


Legend of Zelda: The Desert Princess

by Lykeans



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Family, Fights, Gen, Multi, Mystery, Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-05-02 08:45:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 31,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5242055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lykeans/pseuds/Lykeans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Proper summary is still undergo for this story. So here is a lame one until we can come up with a good one.</p><p>Something bad happened; the hero dies to be reborn. Zelda sees something in her vision, chaos ensues. Prophecy has changed and now the bearers of the triforce must find their own destiny without the goddesses helping them...yeah. It's Legend of Zelda in a more Game of Thrones kind of way. It's kind of why we can't think of a proper summary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aftermath...The History...

It is a picture.

It was taken two months ago...

In it were four people. The husband, his wife, brother-in-law, and their new born child. The husband was Hyrulian with dirty blonde hair, dirt and blood covered his face. The man's wife was Gerudo, beautiful, youthful, and tall. She's dressed in an auburn wedding dress with hair decorated in ordainments of gold and ruby gems. Blood red hair cascading down her back as half was braided into a bun. The bride was carrying their newborn, who too looked much like her mother; red hair, dark skin, and facial features except her eyes. The child had blue eyes....

And the brother-in-law that stood next to his sister. He was young and small, a Gerudo teenager, as well as the crowned prince.

"Ganondorf...my king..."

Ganondorf turns around, young for his age to be a king, for the child was only fourteen. His golden eyes were rimmed with tears, threatening to spill. His face sad and empty. His lips pressed in a thin line.

"Cousin..?"

The young king looks throughout Hyrule fields, the wind wiping up his short spiky hair and cape. There was a dark silence, an empty silence as the teen didn't answer. 

"Cousin...Ganon..?" 

"I can't..." his back remains facing to the female Gerudo. Though the wind was loud and forceful, the shaking of his shoulders indicating his inner turmoil. "I can't find him."  The female looks down to see the small picture in the young king's hand. She sucked in and held her breath as she understood what teen had meant. "All this...meaningless...and I can't..." He drags his free hand over his face. "Did you see him?"

The female opens her mouth, only to close it once more. Both stood in silence as the wind continued its howling, crying for the lives lost this day. "The royal guard had taken his body...and uncle's."

Ganondorf takes a deep breathe and clinches his free hand, the other careful enough not to ruin the picture. "So...both are dead."

"We should head back." The female Gerudo walks up to the teen and freezes as she saw his face.

The young king was smiling.

Confused and baffled, the female looks over toward where the king overlooks Hyrule fields. All she saw were bodies whether bloodied, bruised, broken, or superficial. Things that were green and beautiful were now glistening in red. 

Human...

Hylian...

Goron...

Zora...

Moblin..

Gerudo...

Those that were friends, enemies, family, rivals, colleagues, and old acquaintances are now here sharing the same grave.

"Funny, isn't it?" The female looks back at Ganondorf. "Father had always said war was a beautiful dance that's forever remembered, but what makes it ugly in the aftermath. After first I didn't understand, but now...but now I know." The young king releases a long breathe and closes his eyes. He was numb, cold, empty. A feeling of lost and wonder, to know that something was missing only for it to never return again. "If this...If this is the cost for freedom? Then why?"

"Ganon-

"Why does it hurt so MUCH!?" The king grips his shoulders, a powerful sensation he hadn't known to exist made him shiver in place. "I didn't want this! Sister didn't want this! He.... _brother_ didn't want this...." He voice dies down to whisper as he felt all fight leave his body. "We just want peace, safety, comfort..."

"Ganondorf, you know as well as I do that this was the only way to stop uncle from destroying everything. You saw the path he was taking!" The female Gerudo grips the teen's face, forcing him to look into her eyes. "You did what you had to do. You saved what's left of us!" She wipes the teen's tears off his face. "It's not your fault for what he did, and nor was it our people." She hugs him, the biting wind starting to calm down. "Remember you still have one person, and she's depending on you now. Not just for her, but the future. We need our king to lead us, to support us for the many trials to come." She brushes the teen's hair back a little. "Don't forget who you are..."

The young king shakes and shivers, breathing long breaths. "I won't...I won't forget." He hugs his cousin back. "Thank you Aratii."

"Of course, my king." The winds finally dies away and there was left is the silence of the afternoon air. "Lets go home."

The teen nods and fixes himself, wiping away tears and stealing his posture. "Okay...right..." Ganondorf looks down at the picture in his hand and tucks it away in his satchel. "Lets go before we're seen." With a swirl of his cape both Gerudo, warrior and king, vanishes over the hills.

* * *

 

Once for every one hundred years (a generation) a single male Gerudo is born in a clan and is raised by his people to become their ideal king. He (the male) will be tested in his boyhood through a series of trials, then will become a man and take the throne to lead his people into prosperity and peace, a future where their legacy will last forever. For the Dragmire clan, Arawnoghma was that one male.

At the age of twelve, Arawnoghma had taken the throne as king. During his rule, the first thing he did was made trade with all neighboring villages and nations, bring both wealth and prosperity to his people. He kept traditions and revived the near dying the language of their ancestors.

Around the age of thirty, Arawnoghma started a family of his own. His first wife, being a descendant of the Dagda clan, gave birth to two daughters. Soon after his second daughter was born the king had married his second wife, a descendant of the Ternada clan. Through this bond of marriage, marrying two different women from two sister clans, helped Arawnoghma unite the three most powerful clans as one. Trade came through faster, giving the young king influence over many (if not all) clans, in which; helped him earn the title of High King.

With his new title, Arawnoghma was placed before and above everything the Gerudo stood for, whether it be tradition or blood. Because of this he changed laws and placed them into action, he married many times over, had two other male (leaders of Dagda and Ternada clans) executed for dishonoring tradition, and had a army trained to serve only him. Doing this had given him complete power over the Gerudo people.

But of course such power came with a price...

A curse most Gerudo had rumored...

Though Arawnoghma had obtained absolute power within a span of fifty years, he had only six children. His first born daughter was the leading general of his army, at the age of eighteen, died in battle against raiding Moblins with an arrow throw the heart. His second born daughter went wondering off into the Lost Woods (now known as the Forbidden Forest), at the age of three, never to be seen or heard again. The third born child was banished and disowned after marrying a Hylian behind his father's back; said to be a traitor to her own kin for going against their culture. The fourth and fifth children -twins, had died in a fire with their mother during a battle between the south and eastern borders.

Leaving the youngest, his son, the only child he had.

But that was only the start...

High King Arawnoghma had traveled with his youngest wife to negotiate with the King of the Northern country. Back home, things were not looking good for his people and trade was placed on immediate halt. However they were ambushed and taken hostage by a group of Hylian spies. They tortured him, broken almost every part of his body to get whatever information they wanted out of him. When it wasn't enough, they turned to his wife and forced him to witnessed the torture. It was a horrid experience to see such flesh sacred meant only for his eyes desecrated and disfigured, to only be dismembered in the end.

Days turned to weeks...

He was saved by the least likely people he thought could be possible.

His daughter Adjet and her husband...

The Hero of Hyrule.

After the rescue, Arawnoghma was never the same. His power crumbled dramatically, tossing aside his crown as High King and assigned himself as Warlord. With his new title he wanted to raise a powerful army, trade only for military power and advancement, and disbanded the untied clans into the groups they were before his rule. It was quite clear what Arawnoghma wanted and his people wanted none of it. 

So instead he summoned an army of undead and Poes.

He went to war against Hyrule...

At the age of fourteen, Ganondorf Dragmire III son of Arawnoghma Dragmire, claim the throne to the Dragmire clan and left the crown of High King to the other sister clans. 

After warlord Arawnoghma's demise, Ganondorf had taken the throne as king and focused on restoring peace and tranquility as they were once before. But that was a long time to come, for after the war his people suffered from famine, disease, and were driven out from the other neighboring countries. He wanted to keep his people alive, so he lead his people far-far into the desert where no other would dare visit. He found a mountainous range, where fresh water flow free like air, greenery shined like emeralds, and soil richer in nutrients than Hyrule's fields.

He had found a new home for his people.

Only to find out it was infested with dragons.

Ganondorf had spoken to the great beasts, sharing his story of events which lead his people to where they were now. Their leader, a dragon named Volvagia, agreed to let the Gerudo live in their lands but in return they were to speak the tongue of dragons when addressing them and to help protect the lit-lings (baby dragons; _"lit"_ being the past participle for _light_ ) until they're able to hunt on their own. Ganondorf had agreed to the dragon's terms and traded secrets with the dragons; magic for magic, medicine for medicine, food for favors and favors for food, but most of all culture and knowledge.

As seventeen years passed and both dragons and Gerudo had prospered here in peace; away from danger, away from harm, and away from death. It had became a secret haven for all Gerudo and dragons, and only them. They kept to their old traditions, passed on their culture to the next generation, and shared tales with passing tribes. All were happy.

Well, that was until Anala became an adult.

Anala was a mystery to all Gerudo, for she is the only -and first- female born with blue eyes. All other Gerudo both male and female had different variations of brown, but none even came close to blue. Some Gerudo say it is because of her mother being a powerful water mage, some say it was because she was born outside of the desert, some say it was because of her duo nature, others...

Just saw her as the King's daughter.


	2. Power and character

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anala had dreamed of only one thing having the greatest adventure of all time. Now finally, at the age of seventeen, she gets her wish by running away when her father least expects it.

* * *

* * *

 

**_Knowledge will give you power, but character respect._ **

_-Bruce Lee_

* * *

* * *

 

_"Hey dad?"_

_"Yes Anala?"_

_"Can I go hunting tomorrow with aunt Mei?"_

_"It's 'may I', and no."_

_"Why not?"_

_" . . . "_

_"WHY-NOT?"_

_"I want you safe here at home."_

_"But you don't let me go any where!"_

_"You'll understand when you're older."_

_"Huui is a year younger than me and she gets to go hunting!"_

_"My answer is still the same."_

_" . . . "_

_"Anala?"_

_"I bet mom would let me go..."_

_" . . . Anala . . . Fine you can go."_

_"YES!"_

_"Try not get lost."_

_"Thank you! I love you daddy!"_

_"I love you too sweetheart."_

A young adult Ganondorf looks at the back of his right hand, tracing the dark triangles with his thumb and reminiscing a conversation he had three years ago with Anala. The door opens to his office and he looks up to see a Gerudo female stomp up to him, drenched in water. 

She stops just before the desk and glares.

"Let me guess..."

"She has no discipline."

"She's only ten."

"Then put her through the trials again!"

"Antagonizing her will only bring more trouble. Not just for me, but for the whole clan."

"Then punish her!"

Ganondorf leans back in his chair, his right eyebrow lifting in question. "Remember the last time I _did_."

The female shivers, her shoulders hunching together and eyes wide. "No more. I dealt with enough frogs then I could a lifetime." She relaxes her shoulders and looks down to the floor, "But none the less, she must be dealt with. Send her out with our sister clan in Tervinta." The female starts to pace in his office, moving back ad forth with silent steps. "Have her...training with the monks in the Alps! Anything and anywhere but here causing trouble!"

Ganondorf rubs his face and pinches the bridge of his nose. "I can't have her leaving my side."

"Why? How is it this...little...hell spawn such a threat?"

"Because she's my daughter. My only child..." The female hushes up, understanding the meaning of his inner turmoil. "And it's not that she's my only child, but Anala is also my blood. If she shows any sign of magic--

"She could become more powerful than you are. Yes, but sending her away may be more...educational."

Ganondorf opens his mouth but stops as an idea came to mind, "Educational..?" He leaps out of chair and rushes to the other side of the room, scrabbling through paper and scrolls. "Get me a messenger, I think I finally have an answer." Grabbing a parchment and two scrolls, he rushes back to his desk and dabs his pen in the ink well. "I'll get her a teacher. But not just any teacher. A sorceress!"'/hn

"A sorceress? You don't mean _her_?"

Ganondorf looks up at the female and smiles, "My old teacher...Tuuir." 

"I...I'll get the messenger. What do I tell Anala?"

"Tell her nothing, because she's hiding by the window...again."

A tiny groan is heard, and ten year old Anala jumps through the window. "How did you know?"

"Breathing...and you smell like brimstone from hanging around dragons all day."

Anala walks around the desk and sits in her father's chair. "I don't want a teacher."

"You're getting a teacher." Ganondorf smile never left his face. "I also like to see how she will handle you."

"Is this payback from your younger years, my king?" The female slowly shakes her head and shrugs in defeat. "I can see where your daughter gets her enthusiasm." The female leaves the room, planning to carry out her king's order. "A sorceress may just be what we need."

Ganondorf writes on a parchment of paper in elegant Gerudo calligraphy. He pays no mind to Anala, even as she walks around the room and looks at certain objects. She picks up a skull of some sort of lizard, with crystal gems as eyes. "Put that down." Ganondorf commanded without looking away from his letter.

Anala rolls her eyes and puts the skull down. "I want a sword."

"I'll give you two enchanted twin scimitars if you will behave and not cause any trouble until your teacher get here." He puts the pen in the ink well and waves his left hand over the paper, enchanting the parchment. He folds the paper, dribbles black wax on the edges, and then stamps the Dragmire clan seal. He turns around and hands the letter to Anala. "Give this to the --are you alright?"

Anala's eyes were wide. Her tiny mouth agape as she stares at her father.

Ganondorf realizes what he said earlier and curses under his breath as he mentally punishes himself. He sighs and squats down to her level, "Anala...." His lips presses into a thin line. He slowly opens his mouth, "Behave, and not only will you get the swords. I will give the best swords ever crafted. I will see to them personally _and_..." He looks off to the side in mid thought and quickly looks at her. "I will train you. Personally."

Anala jumps on her father and hugs him around the neck. "THANK YOU!" She snatches the paper, runs out of the office, and slams the door behind herself. No doubt in a rush to disarm all of her traps set around the Gerudo Oasis, while at the same time to get the letter delivered.

Ganondorf felt regret the moment the room went silent, and need to cry. "What have I done?"

 

 Two years comes and goes...

It was in the middle of the night. The stars were alight and Gerudo in their adobe were silent. Yet there was one window with one candle light that stood out from all the others. In this room was the king Gerudo of the Dragmire clan tucking in his daughter Anala for the night.

"Get some sleep, you have sword dancing starting in the afternoon. You'll need the energy."

"Wait hold on." Anala hold up her right hand. "Check this out dad!" Her hand starts to glow orange, waves of energy coming off her appendage in rhythm. As she took harder concentration, the magic came more into focus.

Ganondorf looks at Anala's dark glowing right hand, "Where did you learn this?" Her hand was giving off a dark eerie, small particles of black reappearing and disappearing in random tangents.

Anala looks up at her father. "In my dreams. There was this weird Stalfos that could change into a gold wolf."

Ganondorf looks up to his daughter. "What do you know of the realm in twilight?"

Anala grins. "It's very pretty and magic everywhere! Have you been there dad? He told me you went there before."

Ganondorf holds up his hand and the same power came from his right hand, but the black particles were bigger. "A long time ago..." He touched right hands with is daughter and the magic dissipated. "Would you like to hear of a story. A story of the hero of twilight, a princess of light, and... a misunderstood king."

"Does it have action and adventure?"

"What kind story do you think it is?"

"It doesn't have any mushy stuff does it?"

"Just a little," He adjusts himself on the bed, laying beside his daughter on top of the covers. "In an old far off village, there was a young elf. He was just your everyday farm boy living a simple and tranquil life, until one day a dark magic overtook his kingdom..."

Ganondorf blows out the candle light and looks back down at his sleeping daughter. He sighs, grabbing Anala's left hand and traces the three dark triangles on the back with his index finger. "Goddess Din. I beg of you, don't take her away from me." He grips the bed sheets harder, silent tears fall to the floor as the king slowly falls to his knees. "Please...anyone but her. Don't take her away and do those horrid things. Take me if you must, but not her -never my little girl."

A female Gerudo outside the room, silently peeks in on at the king. With a sad look she closes the door and walks down the hall. "As mortals we have no power over the Gods. Be strong my student because it has only begun..."

 

Now, five years had passed...

An old age Gerudo, though she has no grey hairs, walks through the fortress. Like most of the female warriors she has long hair but tied back in a bun, decorated with different ornaments of gold and ruby, and aligned with black feathers. She doesn't wear the standard tube top and harem pants, but as a member of the counsel and daughter of the sister clan in Tervinta, she wears an entirely different attire. A light brown dress overlaid with two shorter red and blue skirts decorated in stars and crescent moons. A leather corset tied just above the waist line, causing the top half of the tan dress to bellow and sag around the arms and chest, revealing _much_ cleavage. Jewelry of gold adorns her bare feet, wrists, neck, and waist jingling with every step she takes.

Compared to most Gerudo, the female was not a warrior but an elder in her youthful years- a sorceress. But even with much experience she was seen like any family member.

"Good morning Tuuir!" A Gerudo female waves to the passing woman.

"Good Morning Kai!" The sorceress waves back with a smile.

"Morning Tuuir!" Another Gerudo gives a solute.

"Morning Huuloi!" She solutes back.

"Where are you going aunt Tuuir?" A Gerudo just exiting her bedroom asks.

"To wake a certain sleepy head." She smirks, still walking down the hall.

The female Gerudo rolls her eyes. "Good luck." She closes her door and heads the opposite direction.

Upon walking up to a door the sorceress Tuuir waves her left hand, glowing of dark magic, opening the door with a click. She enters the room and flinches at the sight, "Gross..."

Sleeping on the cot was another female Gerudo. Her mouth was wide open with drool falling off to the side of her mouth, long red hair spread around the bed in a tangled mess, and caramel skin showed much as blanket and pants were kicked off her person during her sleep. Standard black bra and matching underwear was the only thing on her body, as limbs spread eagle from being both tired and exhausted.

With a wave of her left, Tuuir forms a cloud of dark magic. The dark cloud quickly takes shape of an ordinary stick and lands in her hand. Tuuir walks up to the sleeping figure on the bed. "Hey, Anala." She pokes the sleeping figure with the stick.

The sleeping figure lazily waves her arm against the offending instrument. 

"Wake up sleepy head!" Tuuir pokes her again.

"No," Anala moans in her sleep and waves the stick away again, turning over in her bed. 

Tuuir sighs. After a few moments she leaves the room, stick disappearing in a puff of smoke and vanishing from sight. Just before she closes the door, she looks back and whispers the words. "Ganondorf is leaving." The door slowly closes in silence, door loudly creaking.

Tuuir waits in the hallway, leaning back against the opposite wall. She holds up three fingers counting down from three...two...one....and points to the door. Loud crashing and thumping echos beyond the wooden door, jostling of fabrics are rushed then torn judging by the cursing of the once sleeping female.

The door bursts open as Anala pulls up her hair in the Gerudo signature pony tail. "Why didn't you wake me earlier!"

"You forgot your children." The other Gerudo reminds Anala smirking at the disgruntled woman.

"My babies!" Anala runs back into the room and comes back out rushing with her twin scimitars. "Lets go!"

"Hold on!" The female grabs Anala by her shoulders and turns her around, forcing the shorter Gerudo to face her. "You forgot your bangs." The other Gerudo takes out her hair pin and parts Anala's hair. The entire front of ruby hair falls in front of Anala's face, then the top half was parted and pulled to the back underneath the two bottom half of the bangs. The style complimented the tiara on Anala's forehead, and were held back like royal curtains. "There... _and_ you didn't put make-up on."

Anala looks up with bright blue eyes. "No time for that!" Anala turns in a swift motion, hair whipping around.

Tuuir chuckles softly as she follow Anala at a much slower pace, "Slow down before you trip."

"No I won't!" Anala trips slightly over the crack in the floor, but quickly fixes her balance by bouncing onto her other foot. "That doesn't count!" Tuuir only chuckles louder.

Ganondorf Dragmire walks through the dragons' nesting grounds with ease as he made his way deeper into the caverns. He was shirtless, but had a hooded cloak on covering his face in shadow; black with red and gold designs with designs of dragons surrounding the Gerudo symbol. His dark brown baggy pants were held up by a double layered red sash and a thick brown belt at the waist. The bottom of his pants were bellowed and tied closed with tan wrappings. Gerudo mojari* (curled toed shoes) tread lightly against the rocky floor, careful and silent. 

Dragons slept within the volcanic caverns against the walls, loud snores echoing through the tunnels in gentle sound waves as the ground rumbled with each breath they release. The heat off their bodies gave a soft warmth, comfortable and snug much like one curled up with a blanket. The atmosphere would make anyone tired or sleepy, and knowing with the lit-lings it's an everyday occurrence. 

Deeper and deeper he goes the more the temperature climbs in heat. A light at the end of the tunnel glows a bright red-orange color. Only two dragons stood by the entrance, glowing yellow eyes stare at the King of Gerudo, guarding whatever that was beyond the archway of the cavern.

With a nod of their head, they let him pass.

Ganondorf enters the cave of light and sees at first brimstone and fire, knowing well there was lava underneath some of the solid rock flooring. Without fear, Ganondorf walks over the thin rock flooring, feeling the heat beating against his flesh and sweat evaporating off his skin. He soon makes his way to the middle of the room and looks around. His golden eyes, reflects red from the fire.

As close as he was to the lava, Ganondorf should've erupted in flames by merely getting a foot close to the liquid fire. However, he was Gerudo, child of flame and earth, there was no fire that can scorch his being. Not even holy fire.

"Volvagia!" Ganondorf calls out.

The ground shakes and rumbles, pillars of fire erupts from underneath. A loud roar and hissing enters the room as Volvagia, a dragon of pure fire, erupts from the lava in fiery glory and lands on all fours before the Gerudo King. Blue wings spread wide, red eyes ablaze, mane of burning fire, red scales of obsidian rattle and shake, blue skull cap and claws of titanium, all stood in magnificence as pools of lava drips off the dragon's overwhelming large body.

"Fos dreh hi laan, Ganondorf? (What do you want, Ganondorf)?" Volvolgia's voice erupts with a thunderous rumble, serpent tongue flicking out from time to time.

Ganondorf pulls down his hood. His long blood red hair casts down inches below his waist, red beard neatly trimmed, golden crown* upon his forehead, and dark skin* gleam in the light of bright flames. The expression on his face was grave and unsure. "Raiders ahrk rahzun nol vorey junaar lost meyzvolaan fah vogaan keyal. Honaat do kein zahk echoes ko rahzun leyk. Raiders nir tum dovah ahrk krii ziin ko sed sul. Zu'u faas nust fund das siiv daar staad. (Raiders and soldiers from another kingdom has been trespassing for a few weeks. Sounds of war horns echoes in the soldier ranks. The raiders been hunting down dragons and kill two in three days. I fear they would soon find this place.)"

Volvagia's eyes narrow, tongue flicking out twice before speaking. "Wo dir? (Who died?)"

"Lok ahrk Yolos. ( _"Sky"_ and _"Flame"_.)" Ganondorf lowers his head in sadness. "Fos fund hi lost zey dreh? (What would you have me do?)"

Volvagia snarls in anger, sharp teeth and serpent tongue reveal with menace as fire burning bright escapes his throat. "Ag niin pah ahrk pah truk nust meyar wah kii! Ruz brah ven wah priidah kii benix klo! (Burn them all and everything thing they own to ash! Then use the wind to spread the ash among the sand!)" His flaming tail bashes into the ground in anger, breaking some the rock flooring. He roars to the roof in sear anger, flaming rocks from the ceiling of the cave falls around the dragon and king. The rock flooring quickly giving away to lava. "Wahl nii ful ol to nust neh ahkos! Lif nid pik nuv vahrukt do daar gaas banaak! (Make it so as though they never existed! Leave no trace nor memory of those filthy scum!)" Volvagia reduces to mere flaming snarls, calming down from his outburst.

After a few moments of silence Volvagia speaks again. "Vos rahzun wah rahn. Vognun ko vokun ahrk ensure nust kuz gaaf trail. Tol fen dein niin hond. (Allow the soldiers to pass. Disappear in shadow and ensure they take the ghost trail. That will keep them away.)" Volvagia turns around and dives back down into the lava, pillars of fire dies down and disappear as the lava's surface once more hardens into rock.

"Nii fent kos drehlaan. (It shall be done.)" Ganondorf turns around, cloak slightly flapping as he did a swift turn.

It didn't take long for the Gerudo King to leave the dragon's nest and enter into his people's village, the Gerudo Oasis. Walking through the wide open plaza, a few of the females nod in his direction in silent greeting as others just spared him a glance. Though king, he wasn't treat as one, but as a brother in arms. Such are the Gerudo; warriors of blood and family at heart.

A swift shadow overpasses the village and Ganondorf stops walking. He looks up and sees a familiar dragon flying across the sky heading east. "No - ANALA!" The king runs through the village, heading towards the dragon stalls. "Damn that girl and her stubbornness!"

Ganondorf slows to a jog as he enters the center courtyard, whistling out loud in a pattern. Another swift shadow flies down and swoops the Gerudo King off the ground, taking flight at great speeds. With ease and experience, the black dragon helped Ganondorf onto its back and continued to fly after the others. "Horvutah vok wah niin!(Catch up to them!)"

Anala turns around, hearing the familiar wing beats of a dragon. In the distance, she can see her father's angry expression on the back of Vokun ( _"Shadow"_ ), quickly catching up. She pulls up her goggles from around her neck and arranges them on her face. She then faces back to the front and readjusted her position on the dragon's harness. Lowering herself closer to her dragon, she tucks her legs on the sides of the dragons body and allow her chest meet its back. Anala smiles, "Vosro saan niin, Ven. (Lets lose them, _"Wind"_.)"

The dragon rumbles in agreement and begins to fly high past the clouds.

Ganondorf hangs tight onto Vokun, as they follow not far behind.

Vokun may be big and strong, making her fast, but she wasn't as maneuverable like Ven. He and Anala were a team, two peas in a pod that were never like their own kind. Just like how Anala has blue eyes, Ven was the only brown and green dragon with feathers. He can move around sharp turns and tight crevasses, and dive through the sky faster than any other. once in the sky they were unstoppable.

Ganondorf and Vokun had made it just above the clouds, both looking around to see if they could find Anala and Ven. The black dragon sighs, "Mu sizaan niin. (We lost them.)" She looks up at Ganondorf with a worried look.

The Gerudo King sighs as well. He rubs his head contemplating, "Rek fen daal das... Zu'u hind. (She will return soon...I hope.)" He looks over the sea of clouds, a worried expression marring his face. Ganondorf leans over and pats Vokun's chest, "Vosro daal hofkiin ful mu vis sent voth daar raiders. (Let's return home so we can deal with those raiders.)"

Vokun growls in defeat and flies back to Gerudo Village.

Ven begins to slow down, allowing Anala to take off her goggles and look back. She chuckles when she sees nothing behind her, "We lost them." She looks back at Ven, "Nu, vosro bo frolk tir tol nebendein! (Now, let's go check out that dungeon!)"

Ven growls in enthusiasm and flies with determination.

Back in Gerudo Oasis...

Tuuir stands off to the side, watching the Gerudo King and Vokun land on the perch just outside the dragon stalls. Once they entered, she slowly walks up to the king, a smirk planted stuck on her face. "So..."

Ganondorf glares at Tuuir, "I blame you."

"Me..?" She scoffs.

Vokun snorts at her, strong nostrils blowing hot air in her face. Ganondorf turns back to Vokun and rubs her snout, a sign to relax and to take leave. She looks at Ganondorf in appreciation and then snarls at Tuuir just before she turns to leave, heading back to the stall she was laying in before.

Ganondorf looks at Tuuir, "Yes, you." He waves his hand in anger. "She wouldn't even get these ideas if you hadn't given her those books."

"So education is to blame?"

"You know what I mean." Ganondorf pulls his hair off to the side, sorting out the tangles by running his fingers through his hair.

"Ganondorf...she's not your little girl anymore." Tuuir pulls the king's hands away from his hair. She snaps her fingers and a comb formats into her hand. She slowly combs his hair, easing out the tangles. "Never mind her not being your daughter, but your sister's. She needs to get out. It's in her blood to explore and seek adventure. You know how Hyrulians are." 

"You mean how her _father_ was."

Tuuir stops and looks up at Ganondorf. She ties the king's hair into a single braid over his left shoulder and smiles, "Would you rather have her running around the world unchecked, or causing chaos in the village?"

He opens his mouth, then closes it slowly. Eyes narrow in thought. Mouth tightening in a thin line...

"Exactly." Tuuir pats his chest. "Talk to her. I'm sure she is willing to listen."

"You're her teacher." He quips.

"And you're her father." Tuuir walks away, comb disappearing as she waves her hand. "She needs to know the truth."

Ganondorf groans. "Do I have to?"

Tuuir looks at him in the corner of her eye. "You owe me for explaining _the cucoos and the bees_."

Ganondorf remained silent after that. His memories flashing back to the day when Anala had asked him where babies came from. A constant reminder that he was too young to be a father. "Fine, but you better have a fallback plan!"

"I always do!" She leaves the stalls.

Ganondorf looks up to the sky groaning, "I think I've reached my midlife crisis..." He takes a deep breather. "Goddess, give me strength." The king of Gerudo walks out of the stalls, knowing he has raiders to kill and an army to divert from their lands. And with his daughter gone, he couldn't help but wonder if Anala was safe.

 

Soaring across the bright blue sky, barely touching the clouds, a dragon and its rider head east. Anala smiles, knowing well she had lost her father some time ago. She looks down at her friend Ven and pats him on the back of his neck. She then runs her fingers through his feathers, admiring the soft feeling and the sheen of brown and green colors. Reminding her that she and her friend were one and the same; oddballs with unique characteristics.

Where Anala was the only female Gerudo with blue eyes, Ven was the only dragon from a family of fire drakes with feathers. The feathers leading from the top of his head, down his neck, covering his wings, and on the back of his four limbs. The feathers on his head were mostly green, yet the patterns on the rest of his body was always starting from green and leading off to a rich brown. The patterns of his feathers then begins to blend in with his scales and hide, making Ven more of a bird than a dragon. Though bird like he may be, he is still a dragon. He still has four legs with four grabbing appendages on each with claws, long reptilian tail, and a pair of long horns on the top of his head.

The most unique trait he has were his wings. His large two wings were mostly made of feathers, making him extremely quiet while in flight and allows him to go for longer distances in shorter amount time. He can also hug around tight corners. He is lighter and faster than any average dragon, and his wings can grow back the feathers if they were damage or burn.

Which sort of explain why he can't breath fire.

Anala looks up to the sky and closing her eyes, enjoying the feeling of wind on her face and the smell...Oh, the smell of fresh air. She can smell the moisture in the air, becoming thicker and more pronounce the farther they travel from home. Where Anala was familiar with the warmth, spice and dry winds of her home land. Familiar of the desert and the tiny hidden oasis over the endless sea of sand. But the land of green, as she heard and read, was the exact opposite of the desert. It will be a new experience, a new sight, a new adventure, a new smell, becoming more of a possibility than another far off dream.

Anala was giddy, excited, and happy to finally do what she dreamed of doing for the past three years.

"Woo-hoo!" She shakes her hair in the wind and opens her eyes. She throws her arms in the air. "Yeah! Lets go raid a dungeon!" Ven roars in agreement. "Just imagine...enemies to fight. Treasure to take! Adventure! And think of all the new food we can try!"

Ven drools in thought.

"And it's just past the borders!" 

Ven looks down at the desert, dragon eyes scouting the area. "Zu'u laan hiraak. Zu'u hon nust los frukilomus ahrk hes. (I want pig. I heard they are juicy and sweet.)"

Anala hums in thought. "Dad drey saag nust lost pruzaan eylok do sliin. Pogaas ko paag ahrk ken tol nii dreh ni evgir. Ahnok, waan mu siiv naan, vos ofun. (Dad did say they were the best kind of meat. Much in fat and flavor that it doesn't need seasoning. Hey, if we find any, lets share.)"

"Geh, vos. (Yes, lets.)" Ven flies a little lower, their altitude below the clouds. "Anala, kolos bo wah siiv grik ulfah? (Anala, where are we going to find such creatures?)"

"Mu nunon klov wah diist lohiim uv sahsun ahrk koraav waan nust ofaal naan. (We just head to the first town or village and see if they got any.)" Anala ponders in thought, pursing her lips. "Ahrk waan mu nis siiv naan, mu vis alun laan fah moraan. (And if we can't find any, we can always ask for directions.)"

Ven shakes his head.

"Fos? (What?)"

"Vir dreh mu mindok fos nust frolok med? (How do we know what they look like?)"

Anala reaches into the satchel, connected to the dragon's harness, and pulls out a book titled _Children's Farm Animals_. "Zu'u lost ilir dey. (I have a picture book.)"

Ven looks at the book and snickers.

"Geh-Geh, nep nii vok...Heck, Zu'u dreh ni koraav dreh yahmindos. (Yes-yes, laugh it up...Heck, I don't see you doing research.)" She puts the book back into the satchel, careful not to drop it.

Ven chuckles a little more. "Boz wahl honaat... _rwmoo_.(The cow goes... _moo_.)"

Anala laughs, "Hi honaat med galv redead. (You sound like a moaning redead.)"

Ven makes the sound again, making them both laugh that much harder. Anala laughing so hard she almost fell off the seat, and Ven flying sporadically trying hard to keep in flight.

Anala wipes the tears from her eyes. "Bek-Bek, morah us mu mah. (Okay-okay, focus before we fall.)" 

Ven chuckles and makes the sound again.

"By the goddess..." Anala tries hard not to laugh, making weird funny faces between serious and full out laughter. 

Ven laughs harder, seeing what Anala was trying to do. Missing a wing beat, Ven lost control of his flight and began to plummet to the earth. Anala, not expecting the sudden jerk, was tossed off the laughing dragon's back.

"Ven!"

Now, Anala wasn't scared of falling. She was used to falling from unknown heights due to much her training with dragon mounts. What frightens her is when a dragon is going through an uncontrollable fit of laughter. You think a dragon, a creature born with wings, can handle laughing and flying at the same time-- no, you're wrong. Flying, as explained from dragons, takes lots of concentration. And if that concentration is robbed, then flying is a no go. 

So if Ven doesn't focus _soon_...

"Ven!" Anala begins to panic as the desert sand was coming closer into view.

Ven looks at Anala and smiles in his own dragon way. His eyes grow wide as he realize how far Anala was from him. Tucking in his wings, Ven dives toward Anala moving faster at speeds. He opens his talons and catches Anala, firmly holding her close to his body. He opens his wings to slow their fall. A twist with his body and a flap of his wings, Ven dodges the edge of a cliff my a centimeter but lands straight into unknown waters.

The water currents were strong, pushing an pulling both Ven and Anala. As both were out of there element, they couldn't avoid bashing into a boulder, knocking out Ven and tossing Anala in a different direction. The dragon was at the mercy of the water, as Anala, with the last of her breath tries to call out her best friend's name.

 

Ganondorf stands before Vokun, strapping on his twin scimitars to his waist and tucking away three hidden daggers; one in his right boot, one behind his back tucked in his pants, and the last in the bellow of his sleeves. He walks around the side of Vokun, looking around the saddle and checking the straps. He tugs on the bottom of the harness, pulling at the belts and tightening the buckles. Once done and rechecked, Ganondorf hops on Vokun's back, settling himself in the seat. He ties on a black face veil and pulls his hood over his head, completely shrouding his face in shadow.

Ganondorf looks around finding the other six Gerudo warriors doing the same, covering the bottom halves of their faces and saddling on the backs of their corresponding dragons. He leans slightly forward and Vokun walks to the other side of the stables and stops, waiting on the steep edge. Vokun's wings spreed ajar to help keep balance as claws gripped tightly onto the wood. The other warriors follow their king's lead and await for the following orders.

Ganondorf sticks his hand out and clenches it into a fist, "Fah sos do un fron! (For the blood of our kin!)"

"Fah sos do un fron! (For the blood of our kin!)" The other warriors and dragons shouted in unison. 

With a quick lean forward and a tug on the harness, a common signal ready to fly, Vokun leaps off the balcony with a flap of his wings and takes off in the air. The other warriors follow suit, as dragon after dragon follows Vokun into the afternoon sky. They fly over the Gerudo oasis in V-formation, making their way due north.

Ganondorf looks over the desert lands, the wind nipping at his skin and cloak whipping in the air as he spots the army, treading the sands in orderly fashion. He raises his fist and then sticks two fingers up, flicking his wrist around as he did so. The dragons and their riders fly closer to the desert clouds, still within formation.

From below on ground, one soldier looks up to the sky and see silhouettes among the clouds, shaped to be birds. He sighs, tired and sweaty and continues marching with the rest of the troops.

In front of the troops leading a army of hundreds of men were four men dressed in heavy plated armor of gold and beige, surrounding a royal carriage being pulled by two horses. Inside the carriage were three men. The first man sits next to the carriage window reading three pieces of paper, his female servant fanning him with a flip hand fan. Sitting across from him were the other two men, speaking to one another over a worn map laid out on the table in the middle of the carriage. Two other familiar parchment paper held images of Hyrule castle, and two other scrolls bearing the royal Hyrulian emblem rests beside the map; a golden eagle and three triangles.

The man by the window sets down his papers in a huff, noticing that no matter how much his servant fans him he'll never be able to cool down. Instead, he looks to the other men for a distraction, anything to keep his mind off the heat. 

"Here," A golden ringed index finger points on the map, "is the Gerudo desert. Now, the desert is known to house many monsters in its sands, especially at night. However..." The man grabs one of the scrolls off to the side and opens it over the map. "This here is an old thieves hideout - completely abandoned and entirely safe. The way this place was constructed was to hide in plain site and provide protection on all sides. The elves call it Gerudo Valley."

The one speaking was the eldest of the three. Evident of the grey hairs growing around his side burns. He has brown eyes, gelled shoulder length dark brown hair, tan skin, blemishes on his right cheek and two engraved scars running alongside on the left of the man's face. He was dressed in loose white renaissance shirt and large brown pants, as to ward off the heat. The man had on expensive grey polished leather cuffed boots, almost touching his knee.

The other male asks, "What is a Gerudo?"

The one who asked, was the youngest of the three. He was leaning against the table on both elbows, inches from the lantern sitting on the table. His long curly tresses of brown-blonde hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, a golden jeweled crown holding back his bangs. His skin is pale compared to the elder man beside him. His face was flushed from the heat, cheeks and forehead a complete strawberry red. He wore the same clothing as the elder man beside him, except in smaller size. His gentle green-bronze eyes kept on the map, curious as any young lad.

"They are vile female thieves your majesty." The man by the window taunts in his french accent, scoffing at the idea. "Barbaric things they were." Both men look up to see the man wipe the sweat off his head with a handkerchief he pulls out of his vest pocket.

The third male was an aristocrat dressed in a heavy embroidered gold, black and beige clothing. He was suffering from the heat more so than the others; as his blue eyes carry dark bags underneath his eyelids, and his face fully flushed and making his freckles stick out more than usual. His frilled black, white and gold cavalier shirt was stuck against his skin from all the sweat. His powdered wig rests on his matching cavalier pants, allowing for the other men to see the man's brown thinning hairline. 

"You dare call them barbaric?" The elder man glares, his voice taut with anger. "They have the desert named after themselves. As well as the valley within these sands. A temple built of their ancestors centuries ago, before our people even learn of technology. Legends told of them as formidable fearsome warriors, able to kill thousands of men with only three of their own." The older man sneers, "They hold more honor than your men back in _Vuellie_."

"Yes, so I heard." The man puts his handkerchief back in his vest. "I also heard that you fought in the war. Sided with the barbarians because you were entranced with their...Oh, what's the word I'm looking for? _Fidelity_."

The elder man's lips tightens into a thin line.

"Is that how you got your scars David?" He indicates to the man's left side of the face

The elder man leaps up from his seat and pulls out his dagger, "I'll fucking--

"Enough!" The youngest commanded. "From both of you. Commander, sheath your weapon and continue your plans." He looks to the other male sitting by the window, "Don't antagonize, Louis. We all are suffering from the heat." He looks between the two men. "Let us not make enemies among allies."

The commander sheathes his dagger on his hip and sits beside the king, slowly calming down. "As you wish your majesty."

"Now, tell me more about this Gerudo valley."

"Yes," Commander David leans back over the maps, "the Gerudo fortress is the perfect place for our men to rest. We can make the temple our headquarters. It will be far from the fortress but it keeps clear of any danger due its location."

"Where is this temple?"

"It's not marked on the map, but it's in the middle of the desert. It can only be found one way. Guided by a spirit that keeps the temple's secrets." David unravels more of the scroll, showing an old drawing of a tall building with the triforce mark and a statue of an Goddess over the main door way. A layout of the first two floors were etched out beside the drawing.

"Ghosts..?" Louis comments. "You can't be serious."

David gives Louis a quick glance. "You may believe in the Almighty Lord, but they exist. _Poes,_ the elves call them."

"No doubt conjured from necromancers after the Great War." Louis snarks another comment. 

The king hums to himself, "What about the Gerudo? Would they be a problem?"

"No, sire. From what I said before, it's completely abandoned." He looks to the king, making eye contact. "The Gerudo..." He stops in mid sentence, clearly in thought. He closes his mouth, eyes looking back down to the parchment of papers. "No longer exist. They have been wiped out, drove to extinction by the Hyrulians."

The young king looks up to the commander, "You have my condolences."

"Thank you your majesty. But it's in the past." David rolls up the scroll, placing it back off to the side and grabs the other scroll. "There is one thing you must know your majesty." David unravels the scroll, the long paper reaching both ends of the table. "It is the Lore of Hyrule...The Legacy of the Nohansen that has been guarded by their family since the beginning of time..."

Louis leans in to see the paper. His majesty as well leans in closer to see the parchment of paper, eyes narrowing at what he saw. "Is that..?"

The carriage stops, jerking everything inside. David quickly catches the lantern, keeping it from crashing onto the floor and preventing a fire. Louis opens the door, "What's going on, why did we stop?" David goes to the other side of the carriage, pulling back the curtains. He looks out the window.

Outside, one of the knights guarding the carriage rides up to the door of Louis' side. "Head Adviser Louis, there's a problem. A sandstorm is brewing over the horizon, and...we lost the trail." 

"Lost the trail? How do you lose a stone trail!" Louis steps out of the carriage with his servant not far behind, leaving the door ajar. He walks around the carriage to the front. All he saw was sand. Endless amount of sand stretched as far as the eye can see. He turns around and sees the end of the stone trail. "No..the end?" 

Commander David steps out of the carriage, throwing on a regular leather overcoat. "What seems to be the problem?"

"The stone trail is missing!"

"Missing..?" David looks around and saw the last of the stone trail, trailing off into the sands and ending. "Great." David marches to one of the knights, "You, go get me four men. Tell the troops that we're resting for now. Set up tents and post up guards surrounding the camp."

"Yes, Commander!" The knight steers his horse around and kicks the animal, "Hi-yah!" The knight takes off, the horse kicking up dust as it gallops.

David turns to Louis's servant. "Hide the maps." He looks around the desert, eyes scanning the horizon. "I'll need to scout the surrounding area. See where we are..."

Louis looks between the commander and his leaving servant. "In this god forsaken heat?" 

David chuckles, "Trust me Adviser, the heat is nothing compared to the cold these deserts hold. Not to mention the monsters..." He smirks at Louis.

Louis sticks up his nose, "Humph, at least his majesty will be here with me."

A horse neighs and both men look up at their king. He was on the back of his white horse, holding the reigns of both his horse and another brown horse that stood beside him. He now wears a golden embroidered beige tunic over his undershirt, bearing his house emblem on the right breast; a golden sun with a hollowed out cross in the middle. His family sword strapped to his waist, gleaming in the sunlight. "Get on your mare Commander."

David smiles at Louis and walks over to his horse. He buttons up his overcoat, and then straightens out his collar and sleeves. Louis was not happy, his deep frown evident of that.  The adviser looks to his king, "Are you sure that's wise your grace? Without you and the Commander, who is lead the army if something happens?"

"Captain Ross is in charge until my return," The king nods to one of the knights that guards the carriage. "If I don't return, or if I'm not heard of within twenty four hours, then proceed as planned and wait for my brother. He's already in Hyrule so it shouldn't be a problem to get in communication with him."

Four horsemen in armor led by the royal knight rides up to the front. The knight rides up next to David, sticking close to the carriage. "Commander, I have the men you requested."

After David tugs on his belt, strapping two swords to his waist, he hops on the saddle and grabs the reigns. "Alright men with me. Speak if any of you spot anything unusual." He tugs on his mare's reigns, making her facing east. "Lets head out!" The Commander clicks his tongue and his mare starts to gallop.

The other horsemen and the king follows after David sticking close, and slowly disappearing over the horizon.

Louis sighs, " _Je ne peux pas croire que ça arrive..._ " He makes his way back inside the carriage, knowing well Captain Ross can handle the troops without any problems.

 

The flight didn't take long as Ganondorf continued to lead his party north. He taps the side of Vokun's neck, gaining the dragon's attention. "Vuth avok het. (Stop over here.)" He points the large sand dunes. Vokun slowly descends to the ground, flapping wings kicking up clouds of sand. Once Vokun lands, Ganondorf leaps of Vokun and starts to walk over the dunes. The other dragons and their riders follow suit, the warriors following their king as the dragons stayed behind.

Ganondorf kneels down and creep along side the peek of the dunes. He stops once he reach the tallest peek and then lays down on his stomach. He peers over the edge and was greeted with the site of the bandit camp less then a mile away. He digs in his satchel and takes out a telescope and scopes the landscape.

A female next to him whispers, "There's too many to take head on." Ganondorf grunts in agreement. "Should we create a distraction, flank them and storm their base?"

Ganondorf spots something and hands the telescope the the female next to him. "No, look to the towers." The female done as he said. "They're prepared for a counter attack. I counted four ballista turrets, two net traps, and seven archery towers. All are evenly dispersed and covering every area." 

The female groans, "These bastards were prepared." She passes the telescope the other female.

"No, they rushed." Ganondorf points in a circular motion, "They're wide open. No walls, no rocky mountain sides, or any hardened structures. Everything is made of wood and steel. Tall fences are their only defense besides the weaponry and towers."

The female scoffs and nods, "They made their own death bed with those walls. Just a simple flame would keep them trapped, no escape unless they have lots of water. Towers would be a problem, seeing there's more than our fair share."

Ganondorf hums, "We may have to do this at the cover of night. You brought the oil?"

The female smiles underneath her veil. "Always."

"Good, I may have a plan."

The second female passes the telescope back to her king, "There's a group leaving."

Ganondorf takes the telescope and uses it to looks over the horizon, spotting about thirty raiders riding out on horses. The one in front was clearly their leader, dressed heavily in rags and partial armor. By the way the rode, they were in a rush as their horses kicked up more sand the father they went. "He's heading south..." Ganondorf folds the telescope and puts it back into his satchel. "Why would he heading that way?"

"My king," the third female speaks up, "on our way here, I saw the stone road destroyed and buried in the sand. I believe the raiders intend to aim at the army that's passing through."

Ganondorf sighs and mumbles, "Just another thing to add to the list of inconveniences." He turns around and makes his way back to the dragons, careful enough not be sighted by the raiders. "We have time before those raiders come back, so lets make this quick. We have an hour to plan and less then that to accomplish it." He walks up to the dragons and signals them for their attention, snapping his fingers and give a quick whistle.

The warriors and dragons gather in a half circle, surrounding and facing Ganondorf. Ganondorf takes out his dagger and starts drawing in the sand, laying out a picture of the raiders' fortress. "Gir strin, dahik Mu los daar nel ol korasaal ahrk ol mal ahraan. (Listen close, because we're making this quick as possible and as little casualties as possible.)" He points to the females and their respective dragons, "Luuka ahrk Nei los nizaag karon yolmah. Nust fen vosmah karon nau gekenlok vund, ruz wahl niist ven ko. (Luuka and Nei are areal bombardment. They will be dropping oil on the surrounding walls, then make their way inside. )" He looks at two other dragons, "Hi ziin los wah horvutah yol nau vund ahrk naan karon haalvut. (You two are to catch fire on the walls and anything the oil touches.)" He then points to the drawing in the sand, "Vokun ahrk Nir fen kuz tum angaar. Merra ahrk Zu'u wahl un ven nau golt ahrk kuz tumbo ronaaz. Frolok tir fah vorey ahrk wahl bek til los nid neilaasin. (Vokun and _"hunt"_  will take down the towers. Merra and I will make our way on ground and take down the turrets. Look out for others and make sure there are no survivors.)" He looks up at the others, looking at each them in the eyes. "Naan Laan? (Any questions?)"

They all remain silent, a few dragons shake their heads.

"Vosro klov tir. (Let's head out.)" Ganondorf stands up and sheathes his dagger, wiping away the drawing with his foot in the sand as he did so. The warriors hop on the back of their respective dragons. Once ready, the dragons took off swiftly. Their large wings kicking up large amounts of sand. 

The raiders hadn't seen it coming. Fast as the winds, the dragons had immediately set the camp fences ablaze blocking any and all exits. The raiders panicking from the wild fire, and two unknown figures killing everyone that crossed their path had left the ballistas untouched. Horses had gotten loose and ran around wildly, bashing and crushing everything in their frenzy. The archers had tried their best to take down the dragons, but one by one they were killed off with arrows and dragon's fire. 

Sometime during the panic, a random raider had gotten a few men under his order and started fighting back. Two ballistas were armed as the net catapult went off. One of dragons without a rider falls from the air and crashes into one of the archery towers, taking the structure down. As the other men saw what their associate did, all the raiders started to put up a real fight and armed the ballistas. A raider takes out his sword and was about to kill the captured dragon, but was set on fire as the other dragon without a rider came to its rescue. The rescued dragon claws it way out of the net and wrecks havoc on foot, breathing more fire and killing raiders left and right in various ways. 

After the the last tower caught on fire, the dragons and their riders concentrated their focus on the balistas and net catapult. One of the ballistas nicks a dragon on the neck, causing the creature to screech out in pain and toss its rider off its back. The rider falls onto one of the huts, crashing through the roof. She shouts obscenities in her native tongue as she found a plank of broken wood pierced through her thigh. Her dragon turns around for her, but was caught by the net and lands roughly in the sands. Another man behind a ballista aims the weapon at the trapped dragon...

A loud earthly screeching roar echoes through the air, causing the dragons and their companions to catch the sight of one of their own die.

The dark cloaked figure, the only male of their group, calls for its dragon and hops on its back. He shouts a command to the others. The other dragons and their riders start to flee the area as their leader on the back of its dragon had a dark aura coming from his being. The other dragon rider on foot grabs their wounded and climbs on the back of one dragon, and they soon follow the others away from the camp. The raiders cheer in victory, raising their swords in the air as they saw the dragons take off.

The cheers dies down to a slow silence as they all saw the dragons and its riders fly stationary in the air, each and everyone facing their direction with anger and malice. A dark aura filling the air. A minute passes and every dragon opens their maw. The male shouts a command. In unison and blended with dark magic, purple flames erupts from all the dragons, scorching the earth black. Screams and shouts, sounds of pain and death was all that could heard during the fiery onslaught.

After the dragons stopped, the remaining raiders and surroundings were nothing but ash and silhouettes marked against the earth and a few steel structures. The surrounding sand formed into molten glass from where the purple flames had touched. No one lived, as there were no survivors. The male signals his dragon to land, and walks over to the dead dragon. He places a hand on its snout and says a quick few words. He waves to the other dragons.

Two dragons with their riders flies low and grabs the opposite ends of the net. They slowly lift their dead and made their way home. The dragon with two riders not far behind...

Vokun nudges her snout against Ganondorf, sad look in both of their eyes. He nods to Vokun and hops on her back.

They weren't done yet.

 

David holds a fist and signals the men to stop. He jumps off his horse and kicks some of the sand away. "Well...found the stone trail," He squats down to get a good look at the stone. "These markings are recent." He points to the scratches, trailing the etchings with his finger, "Very." He looks over the sands and stood. He turns his head quickly to the side, facing north. A large cloud of sand was coming at them, and fast. 

The king looks in the same direction, "It's not a sand storm, is it?"

David quickly hops on his horse and draws his sword, "Arm yourselves and protect the king! Go!" He points his sword back west, directing his men which direction to head.

The soldiers and the king draw their swords, kicking their horses in gear and racing across the sands. The group of raiders were chasing behind them, yipping at them and swinging their raised swords. They were catching up, but by the time they even come in close range they would've reach the army.

The commander rides next to his king, intent on protecting him. They raced over the dunes and small cliffs. The raiders getting closer by the second. Once the men reach the top of the mound, they stopped as the sight of well over twenty raiders on horse back waiting for them. David tries to turn back but the raiders that chased them blocked their path. They were surrounded on all sides, caught in a clever trap.

The leader of the raiders holds his hand up, "Give up! there's no where to run." He spoken in a heavy accent, his tongue heavily emphasizing the r's. "You're surrounded, no where to run. Give up, and no blood will be shed."

The Commander looks to his king. The king nods and sheathes his sword. David and the other soldiers follow suit, silently obeying the command of their king.

The raiders ride toward the royal company, their leader in the front. He rides up to the king, his face obscured by a painted mask and brown scarf. "Don't try anything." He points to one of his men, "Or he'll put an arrow into your one of your men's eyes." 

The king nods in understanding. "I won't risk lives of my men life if there's a means to spare them."

The leader of raiders flicks his hand and signals his men. "Take their weapons and tie their arms. We move out quickly!" He turns his horse and starts a trot. Three raiders hop off their horses and strip search the king and his men. Swords were taken and passed to other raiders to hold. Jewelry and person of value were placed in raiders' pockets and personal satchels transported onto other raider's horses. The men's wrists were tied together with rope, thick and small enough to restrain mobility and risk of escaping. The young king was then thrown onto the raider leader's horse, laying on his stomach in the front of his saddle.

Their leader, tugs on his horse's reigns. "Ride!" He takes off in the desert with the raiders and hostages behind following him. The young king grunting in discomfort from the movement.

Ganondorf stood on the high dunes beside Vokun, watching the raiders take their prisoners and ride out across the sands. He turns to look at Vokun and nods. Vokun growls and walks back over the hill, meeting with the other dragons. The winds begin to pick up, carrying along heavy sands.

A storm is coming... 

Ganondorf follows Vokun shortly after, disappearing over the dunes.

The winds were rushing, pulling and pushing all in a single direction. The raiders had their scarves around their necks raised above their noses as a few others wore masks or goggles to shield their eyes. However, their captives were defenseless against the sandy onslaught in their thin clothing and heavy metal armor. The grains buried deep into their uniform as the plating itself was slow roasting them. The rushing winds were the only things that kept them cool.

The raiders were slowly traversing through the sand storm, grouped together not to get lost. As the storm lasted longer and winds became stronger, the tighter the group became. Their captives dead in center. The storm had given everyone visual impairment, unable to see even three feet in front of them. Their leader shouts a command over the sands and jumps off his horse. He walks a bit further ahead looking around the area as best as he could.

Another raider with a goggles and scarf covering his face walks up next to his leader, "We should've been at the camp by now."

The leader leans down and grabs a handful of sand. Not just any sand, but sand as black as charcoal. As the leader looks on, the black sand was impressed into the earth as though it weighted heavily than the earth surrounding it. He throws down the sand in anger, " _Dargons_."

" _Dargons_?" The other raider turns around and shouts to the others, "Arm yourselves- _Dargons_!"

The raiders take out their swords and change into a circular formation. 

One of captives, a soldier, whispers to his Commander. "What do they mean by _Dargon_?"

The Commander lowers his head as his eyes looks up and around. "They mean dragons." The other soldiers spun their heads around, cautious of their surroundings. "Just keep your heads low men."

The raider leader hops on his horse, the captive king still in place, and unsheathes his sword. "With me. We run to the caves! HIYAH!" The leader kick starts his horse and gallops through the storm.

The raiders were to follow until they saw a large shadow take off into the sky with their leader and his horse. The men went into a panic frenzy, not knowing what to do or where to go. Then there was fire.

Flames came from all different directions; above, behind, at different sides and even one below. The fire never reached the horsemen, but they did force the men to group together. Herd together like cattle. After the flames, there were fast moving shadows coming from the sky and picking men off one by one.

There was screaming...

Shouting in all directions...

Ripping of flesh...

Breaking of bone...

The winds begin to die down. The sand slowly falls back to the earth, the air clearing by the second. The Commander wipes the last of sand from his eyes and saw large silhouettes surrounding him and his men, the raiders no where in sight. He blinks his eyes a couple of times and realizes the large silhouettes where dragons. Three large dragons, bigger then the horses they rode on.

"Commander!" David turns to the voice and sees his king on the back of a black dragon, the largest of the three. "I think they are here to help us." 

David looks around once more, seeing the massive dead bodies of raiders displace out in the desert sand and not one of his men touched. "I think so too." He answers mostly to himself.

The black dragon the king was on shakes out its wings, tempting to take flight. It growls in a huff and turns to look at the young king on his back. 

The king looks back at the dragon with no fear, "What?"

The dragon narrows its eyes and with a quick jump, tosses the king of its back. The youth falls on his back and rolls off to the side, groaning in pain. It growls at the king and gives off a bark like roar to the others. The other dragons answer in return and take flight. The black dragon follows the others, flying higher and farther within every second into the sky.

"Commander!" David looks back down to his king. "We should head back." The youth pats down his tunic, dust falling off with each movement. "We will look for the trail again tomorrow, but for now let us return back to our camp. Let us rest and regain our stamina, to try again...tomorrow." The young king's hand was shaking, the sight of the appendage vibrating and jrking gotten David's attention.

The Commander said nothing of the king's tremors, but instead nods. "As you wish my king." He looks down at his wrists, "But first things first your grace. If you would mind, please?" He holds out his wrist fro the king to see. The king bends down, grabs one of the dead's sword and cuts the rope on David's wrists.

Over the horizon on the tallest of dunes, Ganondorf puts away his telescope. He stash the instrument in his satchel and hums to himself. "This may pose a problem." He whistles. Vokun's screeching can be heard. He bends down and picks up Vokun's saddle and harness he had taken off earlier. As she gotten closer, Ganondorf grabs his companion's foreleg took off in the sky, heading back to Gerudo Oasis.

 

 

Eyes begin to open as eyesight focuses in and out...

A deep inhale causes harsh coughing...water spilling from her lungs...

She gathers her breathe slowly...her two arms holds up her body as she lean on her left side.

Taking her time she looks at her hands; the left was normal as the other had a united trinity of three dark triangles standing out on her skin. The three black triangles were her birthmark, always a reminder of who her father was and the much resemblance they both have. If it wasn't bad enough she had blue eyes, just put the three triangle birthmark on top--and bam! Everyone knows who she is...

She wipes her mouth with said birthmark, angry and upset. "Ugh...dumb dragon." Anala rubs her face, feeling the water soaking her body. "I'm going to kick his ass once I find him." She rolls to her side and slowly get back on her feet, noticing the change of the environment. 

A thick forest, ranging from who knows where to who knows how far. The wildlife was active and loud, from birds chirping to beasts roaming in tall grass. The water flowing behind her roars continuously as any waterfall that flows freely, casting a light mist at the bottom of the river. The canopy blocks out the sky, leaving much to the imagination and yet casting thin rays of light touching the forest floor. It was all beautiful to say the least, but not familiar territory.

Anala, with the years of experienced survival, began to check her person and the items she had on her. What was once a proud Gerudo green garb was now, tattered fabric. Her tube top was torn off, leaving only her strapless black bra. The leather belt carrying her twin scimitars was missing. Her mothers purple hip skirt was still in one piece around her waist. The left side of her pants are torn from knee to hip, showing off half of her butt and underwear. Gerudo mojari were still on her feet, and the wrappings on her legs had loosen.

Just great...

Anala unties her mother's hip skirt and uses it to replace her missing tube top, tying the ends behind her neck. She refastens the wrappings on her legs and then empties the water from her shoes. All was left, was to find Ven and her twin scimitars. But where to start..?

"Excuse me..."

Anala looks to her right and spots a weird blue person. Unsure of its intentions, Anala just sits and stares, waiting for the... _thing_ to make its first move.

"Hi, I'm Miro. I'm from the Zora domain north of here. Uh..." _It_ \-- Niro, slowly removes its hands from behind its back and reveal two familiar scimitars. "I believe these are yours." Miro walks close enough to put the swords next Anala, laying them on the rocky ground between them. Its large green eyes never leaving hers. "I saw you and your mount crash into the water. I...uh, rescued you."

Anala blinks.

Miro shoulders slump down. "You don't even understand what I'm saying do you?"

Anala blinks again.

"Just my luck...I save a beautiful woman from death and she can't even understand me." It looks back to the water. "I don't know where you're from, so I can't take you home." It looks back at Anala. "So are we okay?" It waves its hands around, fins going along with its movements. "You." It points to Anala. "Walk?" It moves its two fingers in a walking motion.

Anala looks a the... _Zora_ once more and says, "Your a talking fish person."

Miro's mouth drops, and his face slowly turns a deeper blue. "Goddesses, you can understand me?"

Anala nods her head.

"Uh..." He was nervous again. "Well-uh..." He clears his throat. "I guess you never seen a Zora before, huh?"

"No," Anala looks him up and down, "I never heard of...them."

The Zora was tall, just two inches taller than her. He was a sea blue with a white underbelly and brown stripe markings going down along his body. He has fins protruding from his elbows, hips, and legs. The head itself being the _tail_. Gills on the neck, and thin fins acting like side burns for the face. Both hands and feet are webbed, equipped with sharp claws; short and point. His clothes are...a silver tiara with sapphires and emeralds, a large silver amulet decorated similar to the tiara, and fancy green and blue waist armor covering his lower extremities.

Fish people...

"Then you must not be from Hyrule, or Tervinta." He said hastily, "You came from the west. The only races I know that usually comes from the west are the Humans and the...uh, Gorons." He smiles, showing off his sharp fangs, "And you're clearly not Goron. So you must be of mixed blood." 

Anala eyes narrow, " _Yeah_...you're very perceptive." She reaches down and grabs her belt, and buckles her weapons back into place.

"Thank you," He blows his head a little in thanks. "Oh, I never got your name."

Anala looks back at the Zora, "I need help finding my dragon."

"Dragon?" The zora pauses in action.

"Yes...my _mount--_ as you called it, is a dragon." She smirks. "Don't tell me fish boy is scared of a fire breathing reptile?"

"Of course not." He huffs. "I just never heard or seen anyone riding a dragon before."

"And I never seen a talking fish person before." She said joking in a light tone. "We both learn something new today."  

The Zora crosses his arms and mumbles underneath his breath. "And to think I called you beautiful."

Anala smiles, "You still think I'm beautiful." The Zora blushes, his face becoming a deeper blue. She walks up to him and pats his shoulder. "C'mon. Help me find him...and I may think about giving you a kiss." She winks.

The Zora swallows loudly. "Y-Yes, I will help you find your mount." He quickly walks into the forest. "T-there, There-- this way."

Anala was laughing to herself, enjoying the flustered Zora.

This was a sign of a beautiful friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys should see the notes and sketches I did just for this single chapter. I couldn't always remember what each character wore or had looked like, nor what they had on them. In count, I wasted seven pieces of paper. Drew four different schematics of how the Gerudo Oasis should look like as well as the location of everything. How dragon saddles work in flight and reflex...ugh, the horror of that one. Designs of scimitars, especially Anala's. Notes of each character's personality, because I kept mixing a few perks with another character's. As well as story line "moments" or important points. And this is just the first chapter...can't wait for the second one. I have to come up with Link's and Zelda's entire background story if I want to make sure everything make sense. Wish me luck guys!
> 
> Oh, and thanks to all who gave me Kudos on just the Prologue. I wasn't expecting so much love until chapter three. Chapter three is going to be a nightmare...
> 
> Another thing! Although this story will mention many references to different Zelda installments, it has nothing to deal with the time line. Think of it as an entire different universe but still relate-able to the main course. Nom!
> 
> LaterZ!


	3. Wisdom and Courage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The defeat of Xeturnal had once more brought peace to Hyrule and all its people. Zelda and Link fought hard, both bearers wearing thin on energy decides to return home for some rest and recovery. Now the queen of Hyrule plans to throw a banquet to celebrate Hyrule's victory as the Hero of Light/Hyrule goes home after long three years...

 

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**"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear."**

-Ambrose Redmoon

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_A golden boar with red eyes roams the desert with a grey cat cub by its side and ends at an oasis, drinking from its cool waters. A howl echoes over the sands and the boar spots a golden wolf with green eyes not far from them. A golden owl with blue eyes land on a tree not far from the wolf, screeching in the boar's direction. The boar takes this as a challenge and runs in to fight the wolf. The golden wolf runs to meet the boar and begins fighting in the sands._

_They were evenly matched, both covered in scars as blood leaked from their wounds. The wolf leaps at the boar for the kill, but the boar saw this move and drives its tusk through the wolf and sends its dead body across the sands. The wolf lands next to the cub and the golden fur turns grey, as its eyes become black. The cub moves to touch the wolf and a golden aura envelopes the kitten. As the golden rays die down, what stood in the cub's place was a full grown silver jaguar with blue eyes. The jaguar turns to the boar and challenges it to a fight._

_The boar looks upon the cub turned jaguar in sadness and steps back._

_The sands begin to pick up whipping around the four animals until beings stood in their place. As the sands die down, Ganondorf stands in the boar's place facing the other three beings, a sad look in his eyes. Link lies dead in the sands and covered in scars as Zelda caresses the dead hero's head. However Zelda's eyes were glued upon the new person that stood before her._

_Standing before her was a female with long red hair..._

_Zelda opens her mouth to speak the female's name, and falls in darkness._

Jerking up from bed and taking a deep breath, Zelda looks around the room in horror. She place her hand over her chest, and looks around her bedroom, feeling her heart drumming against her rib cage. Once she saw she was in no danger, she lays back down on her bed and looks up at the ceiling. "Anala..." She whispers, feeling the heavy weight upon saying the female's name.

"Is there something wrong my queen?" Zelda looks toward the window, seeing a familiar red eyed and white hair female. The window behind her slightly ajar.

The woman was tall and lean, skin tanned from spending long hours in the sun. She was dressed in two layers of grey and blue light fit clothing, designed for speed and flexibility. A few designs highlighted in red resembling eyes rests on both her pants and tunic. A dark smokey blue cloak with golden highlight designs hides the majority of her body, but becomes to a slow reveal as the left side of her cloak was lifted over her shoulder. The bunched up cloth of the cloak covers the lower half of her face like a mask. Grey leather fingerless gloves on her hands, and toeless blue shoes on her feet. The dark grey Hyrulian armor guards covers her entire arms and the bottom half of her legs, both tied by red strings. A grey leather triple-buckled belt covers her entire lower abdomen, a red obi fashionably tied around it drags the eyes away from the slightly hidden satchels on her waist.

To anyone else the woman would have been mistaken for an odd mercenary, if it weren't for the iconic traits only of those descended of the Sheikah tribe can carry. Her snow white hair kept to a smooth ear length as only three long braided strands, passing her breasts, hangs over her face. Her red eye irises shifts slightly in color depending on the light, from rose red to a red wine. The white tattoo on the woman's face aligned with her left eye was only more proof of her heritage and loyalty to the royal Nohansen family.  

"No Impa, just another vision." Zelda leans up in her bed, tossing her covers off to the side.

"Does this Anala character have anything to do with it?" She walks closer the the bed, yet still kept a slight distance between herself and the queen.

"More-so than I feared." She looks up at the older female. "It seems the Goddesses has changed plans."

"Changed-?" Impa was stunned.

Zelda nods, "From what I gathered, the hero is destined to fall as a new heroine will take his place." Zelda walks over to the window and looks out to the courtyard. "Link...is not to know of this Impa." She turns to her side and looks at Impa. "Not yet anyway. He has done enough for Hyrule. After ending Xeturnal and fighting through his crystal golem horde, he earned his rest...I believe it is best to leave him be for now."

"What of this _Anala_ person? Do you wish to look for her?"

Zelda sighs, "I'm not sure." She was contemplating her decision, wondering if she should go after the heroine as she did with Link and lead her to her destiny. However she was tired, exhausted from adventuring disguised as Sheikh and leading an army against Xeturnal's forces to buy Link more time. "No, Lets continue as scheduled and then worry about that later. For all we know, the woman may be on the other side of Hyrule."

Impa nods, "I understand. What do you plan on wearing to the banquet my Queen?"

Zelda looks at door to her wardrobe and rolls her eyes. "Only the stuffiest and most heavy of gowns of course." She leaves the window, careful not to break its intricate glass.

"There's also another matter my queen." Impa walks a bit closer to Zelda, her breath in a bare whisper. "The Duke of Lascey and Lord Denniver has been found dead. The only clues found were timing of their deaths, reporting to be more than two days ago. Many of the neighboring kingdoms' spies and investigators have not yet found a trace or evidence of the suspect."

Zelda opens the door to her wardrobe, revealing to be a large walk-in closet, and walks inside. Her eyes gazing at all the clothing at her disposal. She shoves a few dresses to the side, only to see another rack of colorful dresses in the back. "That is fine." She unhooks a dress, eyeing the designs and taste in color. She frowns, placing the dress back on the rack. "Sheikh didn't expect the task to be easy. He got it done, never the less. The targets did everything within their power to stop him, only to fail in the end. May it be the will of the goddesses or not, I cannot say." She walks further down the closet her eyes catching sight of another dress. "Any other news?"

"Yes," Impa starts speaking at her regular volume. She stops just outside the closet, not daring to enter the large walk-in closet. "There are also concerns of many raiders appearing around the borders." She takes out a small scroll, the paper fresh and clean. "A recording of six camp sites, two established villages, and one town."

"That doesn't seem bad."

"That is only the east side of the borders." Impa stated.

"What?" Zelda nearly trips over her feet, but catches herself with the grace of a Sheikah. She whips around and marches toward Impa.

"They are not willing to leave." Impa holds out the scroll for her queen to see. Zelda grabs the scroll and begins to read its contents as Impa carries on her report, "A single, much larger camp is located in the north. About ten miles from Zora's Domain. Another ten camps, three villages, and two towns in the south and southeast. A near ten thousand in total. All heavily guarded and armed."

Zelda looks up to Impa, worry planted on her face. "What of news in the west?"

Impa takes her time to answer. "There was one fortress."

" _Was_..?" This had Zelda's eyebrows lifted in curiosity.

" _Was_ -" Impa confirms. "It has been burn to ash and glass."

"Ash and glass -- DRAGONS?"

"Most likely."

Zelda bites her finger, her brows furrowing together. A frown evident on her face, "What are dragons doing so close to Hyrule?"

"There's a theory that the Siloar Desert my be their hunting grounds. Given the nature of the _I_ _gnis Draconem_   _O_ _ccidentalem_ species, it leaves no doubt in my mind that their nesting grounds may be very close."

"Yes, but when there is a nesting ground..." Zelda pauses not wanting to continue that path of thought.

Impa finishes for her, "...there's an elder dragon."

Zelda rolls up the scroll and hands the item to Impa. "Lets deal with one thing at a time." She walks back into the closet, her shoulders stiff. It was clear to Impa that stress was eating away at her queen. "First, the banquet is not until the next two weeks. In the mean time, we can renegotiate allegiances with the leaders of other neighboring kingdoms and come up with a plan to be rid of the raiders. Once the raiders are out of the way and the banquet done, we start working our way toward Anala. If the vision I had comes true then..." She hugs herself, her shoulders hunching. "Link is going to die..."

Impa's eyes grew wide at the revelation. "The goddesses would be rid of their hero just to be replaced by another?"

"I don't know what to do." She was crying, her body shaking as sobs come. "I don't want him to die, there must be some other way. Maybe if we get in contact with Ganondorf-

"If the traitor is still alive."

Zelda stops in her ranting, understanding the words leaving Impa's mouth. "That's right..." She had forgotten this was another lifetime, a different era...

In their past lifetime, Zelda and Ganondorf had made a truce between the Gerudo and those of Hyrule. Their peace was hard won and worth the two centuries of tranquility. Even Link had the time to become the man's best friend and brother in arms. It was a rare event the three bearers had ever experienced. An era where peace was the only goal the Goddesses had intended, and heavily rewarded them with. That time ended when Arawnoghma's sixth wife gave birth to his son, Ganondorf Dragmire III. The people shunned the Gerudo when the former high king told the kingdom of his intentions when his son was to come of age.

He had planned to use his son to extract revenge.

And he had succeeded.

Her father had died at the hands of Ganondorf, not intentionally but by accident. Zelda shoves away the dark memories to the back of her mind, not wanting to remember the look of betrayal on her father's face. She whispers the words to herself, "That's right...I had forgotten again."

"My queen, I don't understand why you wish to make contact with that _Gerudo_." Impa crosses her arms, both defensive and defying.

Impa doesn't know, nor should she tell her. "He's the only one that knows about the triforce besides Link."

"How does he know?" Impa was becoming suspicious. This was not suiting well, the tension growing between the two females.

"He was there when it happened." She turns around, her fists clenched at her sides. Her eyes stern and commanding, daring her most trusted adviser. "That is all I will speak of it." It was not a suggestion.

Impa sighs, not entirely agreeable being left in the dark. However, she knew when the line was being crossed, her thoughts and loyalty brought to question. However, she will never betray her queen. She swore and dedicated her life in protecting the royal family. It was the fate of all those from the Sheikah tribe. "As you wish, my queen." Impa said solemnly.

Zelda saw the look in Impa's eyes, guilt tarnishing her soul. "Oh Impa...I'm sorry." She walks over to her and hugs her in comfort. The Sheikah returning it with much emotion. "I don't mean to be cruel. I just--

"I understand." Impa didn't need to hear more. She rubs her queen's back, feeling the tense muscles underneath the night gown she wore. "We will move past this." She leans out of the hug and lifts Zelda's head by her chin, gazing into her blue dye eyes. "You are the queen. There will always be trials where you feel as though world is against you. Now this, for whenever it happens, I will always be there by your side." Though her mouth was hidden by the scarf, you can still see that Impa was gently smiling.

Zelda takes a deep breath and nods. "Thank you Impa." She looks back down into the closet and sighs. "I guess I'll get a new dress made for the banquet." 

"Do none of them fit your tastes?"

"No," Zelda huffs, "They're just so... _tacky_."

Impa huffs a laugh. "I'll get the grand couturier." Impa leaves Zelda standing in the closet doorway, making her way out of the queen's bedroom.

"Please do." Once the door closes, Zelda walks over to the bed. "I'll just get some more rest." She flops down on the bed. A few moments after her head touches the pillow, she falls into a vision-less sleep.

 

Deep, deep into a forest...

A soft melody can be heard playing, carried farther with the soft blowing wind. The instrument used was questionable yet beautiful never the less, and its owner even more so.

This was home to the Hero of Hyrule, Link Fernadil.

Not many people knew of the lad's origins, or where he came from. Only that he worked for the blacksmith in Ordon and was trained by the best sword master in the country of Hylia. His war horse Epona was a gift from an old friend. The iconic green uniform handed to him with the title of commander was from the queen of Hyrule herself. The Master Sword, The Blade of Evil's Bane, was a blessing of the Goddesses and a eternal beacon of hope.

An echoing child like laughter rings above Link.

The hero smiles, knowing well who the owner of the laughter was.

"Hey, Skull Kid!" Vixi, Link's traveling blue fairy companion, shouts. Her magical wings chimes in happiness.

Skull Kid, the spirit of the forest and mischief maker of shadows, jumps from the high tree branches and hugs Link. Both hero and spirit almost falls to the ground from the force, Link's right foot still caught on the saddle saved him from bashing his head with the ground. "You came back!" He was ecstatic, gripping tightly to his friend.

Link returns the hug with full force, not caring he was hanging far off to the left side of the saddle.

"Of course we did!" Vixi flies around the spirit. "We promised didn't we?"

You can almost hear the tears coming out of Kid's voice, "I thought you wouldn't come back." He starts to shake with both happiness and relief. "When I heard you went to war against the bad man, I thought I would never see you again."

Link could only bite his bottom lip, understanding Kid's turmoil. He shakes his head, burrowing his face in his friend's straw hat.

Vixi touches Kid, trying to soothe the distressed spirit. "But we're here now Kid. You don't have to worry about that ever again!"

Kid slowly leans out of the hug, helping Link back into the saddle as he did so. "Wait til Aryll hears about this!" He jumps to the back of the saddle, holding onto Link's shoulders as he stood. "Lets go!"

Link smiles and kicks Epona into gear. The horse neighs loudly and gallops through the forest, trusting her rider to guide her through the thick underbrush. Galloping as fast as she could, splashing through smalls rivers, jumping over tiny gaps, the music gets louder the longer they travel. There was a broken bridge ahead of them, a narrow but deep ravine separates the two sides. With a final push of stamina, Epona speeds up and leaps over a narrow ravine. Link and Skull Kid laughs, enjoying the excitement and danger. Epona lands gracefully on the other side of the broken bridge, her hooves clanking against the old wooden boards chimes like music to the ears.

"Woah!" Vixi screams. "That was a close call!"

Link pays no mind to Vixi's comment. He feels Epona's slowing down to a walk and pats her neck, appraising for her efforts. The rest of the way remain in silence, his trustful steed making her way uphill following the dirt trail.

Not an hour later, they come up to a wooden cabin connected to an enormous tree at the base. There was another part of the cabin much higher on the tree and close to the branches, with four large windows on different sides. It looked very much like a tree house from a distance, but once closer you can see little inside of the room for each window. A stone fence surrounding the small property with no gate. A water well rests only a few feet away from the porch and a flock of cuccos wondering around in the front yard. On the porch was a small girl playing an ocarina, reading the music notes on the paper in front of her.

"Aryll!" Both Kid and Vixi shouted at the top of their lungs.

The girl from the porch stops playing and looks up at the two who called her name.

Link gently tugs Epona's reins getting her to stop. He hops off of Epona, careful not to step on any of the cuccos. He looks over at the girl, noticing the difference that has happened to her over the years he'd been gone.

Aryll sets down her ocarina and music sheet on top of stool as she got up, her eyes glued to the grown man that was walking up to her. Only three years had past since she had last seen him, changed him from the young boy she once remembered. But she knew, by instinct who it was and couldn't believe he was here. Home.

The grown man was now seventeen years of age, standing at five foot seven. He was wearing a green tunic with a matching cap on his head. White undershirt and pants dirty and stained from the years of usage. A thick chain mail slightly hidden underneath the tunic and above the undershirt. Brown fingerless gloves and knee-high leather brown boots carried the same design, markings of the royal Hyrulian guard. A thick belt around his waist holds magical pouches, carrying all the necessities he needs. Two sets of straps crosses over his torso; one holding up the sword and shield on his back, the other keeping his breast plate and left shoulder guard in place. His blonde hair was unkempt, grown long to a point where the man had to pull back the majority of his hair into a pony tail. His bangs passing his eyes and touching his cheeks with side burns long enough to touch his shoulder. Yet through the messy tresses covering his face, you can still see the happy blue irises underneath.

The young teenage girl was only two years younger then the man, fifteen, and standing at five foot two. Bright blue eyes reflects the same happiness as the man before her. Her hair grew longer than what the young man had last remembered, nearly touching her hips. Her hair was split down the middle and in two braids with blue ribbons tied at the ends, both braids coming over her shoulder to rest in the front. She wore a blue-orange flower dress and light brown tunic combination; the short sleeved dress overlaying the elbow long tunic and bellowing out at the ends. The dress barely passes her knees, white capris can be seen underneath the dress. A leather corset runs over the girl's torso, meant to only hold her breasts in place. Leather brown sandals with straps around her ankles adorns her small feet. A single leather bracelet on her right wrist, and a silver heart charm necklace around her neck gleams in the sunlight.

Aryll walks closer to the man, the cuccos moves out of her way as she hesitates halfway. "Link?"

The man nods and grins, holding out his arms.

Aryll runs to the man and leaps into his arms, "BIG BROTHER!" Her legs wraps around his waist as they both spun around in circles hugging. Both were laughing, happy, crying, relieved, loved, and giving love as the siblings reunited once more. "I missed you so much!" Link can feel the tears of happiness soaking his shoulder.

Link wishes he could speak, so he could tell his little sister there was nothing to worry about and that he was home. He was home! And never asked for a greater blessing than this. He kisses her hair, hugging tightly and closely. Tears start to leave his eyes, for all the hardships he went through was all meant for this. The only family he has, the one thing that has kept him grounded since the beginning of the horrors and nightmares. Just to see her again. His little sister!

Aryll plants her feet down to the earth, and leans a bit away from the embrace. "I'm so glad you're okay." She brushes the mans long bangs out of his eyes, catching the dark bags around his eyes. "You're so dirty. Come, lets' get you clean." She grabs his hand and drags him inside their home. "I'll get the water started! So make yourself comfortable while I get it ready." She rushes off to the back room, leaving Link in the main room.

The cabin was just as he remembers it. Windows on each side, all round with wooden frames. The cabin was really a two story home as part of the tree was hallowed out to make a stairwell to their bedrooms. The cabin itself was split in half with the kitchen and dining room one in the same, the back room leading to a hot spring with a working pipe system. There was only five doors, one was the front and the bedroom upstairs. Blankets and curtains were used indoors to separate the back room and kitchen, mainly for insulation purposes. Past the table and next to the sink was the cellar door with a ring knob leading to the basement. If his memory serves him correctly, only spare items and useful tools goes down there.

Link walks over to the black pot resting above the fire pit, held up by an iron stand. With a cloth already on the handle, he grabs the lid and lifts, greeted by a cloud of steam. The scent of spices and cooked vegetables hits his nostrils as he identified the stew. He grabs the hanging ladle off to the side, and stirs its contents. He notices the food wasn't yet done as the potatoes were still hard and carrots barely soft. Link dips the ladle into the stew grabbing only the juice, brings the ladle up to his face, blows on the hot liquid, and then sips. He licks his lips, noticing there was something...missing. Frowning, Link looks over to the counters.

Link grinds more pepper, cuts tomatoes, and peels onions. He throws the extra ingredients inside the stew and mixes. He tries again, tasting the flavor and smiles. Satisfied, he puts the lid back on top and ladle back where it was. Not seeing much to do, he leans back against the table in wait.

After a while, Aryll walks back inside the room. "The bath is ready."

Link lightly smiles and trades places with his sister, Aryll checks on the food as he went to the back room.

Aryll taste check the stew and her point ear twitches. "He changed it again." Though the statement sounded upset, she was smiling. She was glad to taste her brother's recipe again, "He knows I don't like onions." She taste checks the recipe again, starting to love the flavor. "Thank Farore, he's home again." She places the lid back on top of the stew and walks over to the counter. "I shall make a feast, just for him!" She grabs the knife and starts cutting meat.

Link walks inside the bathing room, noticing a slight change in the room. The same old wood carved stools and shelves were still there in their respective places. The walls half way aligned with stone, the top half being made of wood. A single window next to the wooden counter on the far right. But that was where the familiarity stops as everything else was new to Link. There was a towel rack on the left wall leveled to his waist. A full length mirror with a wooden frame hangs next to the doorway. Two mats on the floor, one by his feet in the middle of the room and another at the bathtub's side. Oh yes, and the bathtub. 

Link's eyes open wide and point ear twitches. The major difference was the tub. What was once a large rock with a dip in it, now a polished limestone tub with two nobs each connected to a faucet. The bath was steaming, the water brightly reflects the sunlight coming from the window.

He will have to ask his sister about this later.

Link undressed, carefully taken off his armor and clothes. He folds his clothes and places them now on the shelf in the corner. His armor and belt right next to it. His boots on the floor in front of it. The Master Sword and Hyrulian shield on the counter closest to him. Realizing what he'd just done, its seems like his military training is still ingrain in his system. He sighs, shaking his head from unwanted the memories.

He's home, relaxing must be priority.

Link takes the tin bucket sitting next to the towel rack and fills it with water from the tub. After taking the bucket out, he walks over to the isolated stool sitting in the middle of the room and places the bucket down. He turns around and grabs the bottled soap and scissors from the counter, then heads back to the stool. He pulls the hair tie out and shakes out his hair, dust and dirt particles comes off in large masses. He leans down picks the heavy bucket up and dumps half of the water on his head, the muddy water rushing to the drain underneath the stool. He sits down and starts cutting his hair.

Snip. Snip. Snip. Snip. Snip.

Half way through his trimming, Link decides to use the full length mirror. His bangs becoming shorter than what they were before, only covering is forehead. Side burns don't even pass his chin anymore. The rest he was just glad they weren't past his shoulders anymore, just long enough to called it a bob haircut. Even if it was messy and uneven. Link then grabs the soap bottle and sew washcloth. He washes his hair, careful to not get the substance in his eyes. He then uses the washcloth and moves down to wash his body.

After the wash comes the rinse, grabbing the bucket again and dumping the rest of it over his head. He shakes his head and looks up to the mirror, laughing to himself as his hair sticks in all directions. The normal blonde hair had become a golden yellow after all the dirt and grim was cleansed from his head. He looks down to the floor and flinches at the masses of hair and mud piled over the drain. The pile almost looks like a large tailless rat.

Aryll will not be happy if the drain clogs. He leans down and picks the hair up and tosses it the bucket. Plans to throw it away later was noted in the back of mind.

Link gets up from the stool, setting the bucket to the side, and makes his way to the tub. He steps into the water, not minding the slight hot temperature. He positions himself comfortably, arms resting at his sides underneath the relaxing liquid. He hums, tensed muscles finally getting a break. Sore feet and hands stretch and curl in enthusiasm.

Link opens his eyes, not knowing when he closed them, and looks down. He curses as best a mute person can, clicking his tongue in the process.

There are times Link wished puberty never existed.

Aryll finishes setting out the last tray of food and takes a step back from her work. She puts her hands on her hips, "I think I outdone myself."

Vixi flies around the table, admiring the hard work Aryll put into making the feast.

Skull Kid, barely tall enough to see over the table, stands on one of the chairs. His eyes staring at the effort Aryll put in the meal. "I think you outdone the table." He jokes.

The dinning table was cover from one side to the other; fresh baked honey bread, steamed vegetables, mixed salad, various minced cheese and cooked meat, sliced tomatoes, sliced fruit, bowl of grapes, baked fish, noodles in cucco broth, pot stew in the middle, pitcher of water, pitcher of lemonade, pitcher of milk, three empty plates, three empty bowls, three forks, three spoons, three knives, three cups, six different bottled sauces, three cloths, two lit candles, a bar of butter on a single plate, and rare flowers in a clear glass vase tied with a green and blue ribbon. All of the cooked food was still warm with bits of steam coming off their surface.

Aryll looks at Kid and then back at the table. She crosses her arms and huffs, "I didn't see you do any of the work."

"What are you talking about?" Skull Kid retorts, "I got the flowers and dishes! It was Vixi that didn't do anything!"

Vixi flies in Kid's face, her bright body blinds the spirit. "What are _you_ talking about? Do you even know how heavy that ribbon was?"

Aryll sighs, tuning out the two as they argued. She looks to the doorway covered by a blue blanket, leading to the back room. She walks over to the doorway and stops. She lifts her hand hesitating, and then knock on the door frame. "Is everything alright big brother? Do you need anything?"

A splash can be heard.

A few seconds later, Link stick his head outside nervously smiling. He pulls the blanket to the side to show he was only in a towel.

"Oh -clothes!" Aryll rushes up to the stairs, "I'll go find find some!" Her sandals can be heard clomping up the wooden stairs. Her body disappearing the higher she went.

Link pulls the curtain back in place and grabs another towel; the first towel still wrapped around his waist. After grabbing the towel, he goes to the stool next to the shelf and sits down. He then starts drying his body, working from the head then down to his feet. 

Aryll walks inside the room, folded clothes in her left arm and a pair of sandals in her right hand. "Your old clothes were a bit small, so..." She walks closer and holds out the clothing for Link to see. "...I got you Uncle's clothing."

Link looks down at the clothes and recognize the fabric and its designs. Slowly grabbing the clothes, his eyebrows furrow as his mouth tightens to a thin line. Memories in long past fills his head, his uncle wearing his favorite clothing made by his deceased wife. The burgundy embroidered designs are intricate as they reflect the forest they lived in, with leaves from trees and forest flowers native to them. The light beige tunic, green vest, and brown pants had carry the same designs around the edges. The tunic having more embroidery going down the sides of the arms and around the neck. The sandals seem normal if it weren't for the fur on them, made from wolfos' fur to keep the toes warm when it's chilly outside. A normal burgundy sash goes around the waist to keep the tunic in place. Yet the most distinguishing parts of the outfit were the buttons.

In most outfits involving tunics and cloths, strings and laces were the things that kept the clothing on your body. Their aunt, funny as it seemed, never believed in such things and puts buttons on all her clothes. Each and every button that came from her were all hand craved and then dipped in some mysterious clear substance that kept the things from rotting or breaking. Even the stool Link was sitting on was made by their aunt.

As Link reminiscence their Uncle's clothing, Aryll took her time observing the difference in her older brother. He was lean, muscular, and fit in all the right places with not a trace of baby fat on him. His muscles sticking out more than when she had last seen him. His shoulders had gotten wider as both hands and feet are bigger, accommodating his size. Before her was definitely a man and no longer that little boy she could recall, and a seasoned warrior to boot. The only things that seemed unchanged were the blue earrings she gave him before he left and the expressive blue eyes they both hereditary share. His hair was another nice touch after the disaster she saw, although still naturally messy.

Then her eyes saw the dark mark. Realizing what it was, she starts to see more the longer she looked, unconsciously seeking out the various markings. "So many scars..." Aryll barely speaks above a whisper.

Link looks up from the clothes and see his sister staring. He looks down and observes the scars on his body. Each and every mark, abrasion, bruise, burn, scab, and protrusion told their own tale. The largest of them was the burn mark on Link's hip on his left side. The darkness of flesh told it recently healed and hadn't happened that long ago. However, the most dangerous one was the smallest mark on his body, located on the back of his neck.

Link consciously rubs the small circular wound, a constant reminder of how much a close call it was. The enemy had sent assassins in the middle of the night, aiming to take down the queen's forces by chain of command. If it weren't for Sheikh's quick thinking they would've lost the war just when it started.

Link gives his sister a small smile. He sets the clothes on his lap, and grabs her hands. Looking into her eyes, he spoke to her his own way. Without words he conveyed every emotion, every word. Every little thing he wanted to tell her was placed in a single action.

Aryll looks into his eyes, understanding the wordless speech. "The worst is over. And you're home now." She kisses her brother's hands, feeling how callous they had become of the past years. She releases his hands and smiles in her own way, eyes squint with her pearly teeth showing. "I'll leave you to change." She turns around, her dress twirling from the action. "You should hurry, dinner's getting cold."

Link watches his sister leave and huffs a laugh. Once he was sure Aryll left, he starts to dress. Food being the only thing on the hero's mind. After dressing, Link comes the notice the clothes were a bit baggy on his body but quite comfy. The sandals fit perfectly on his feet as both toes and heel stays on the soles. Satisfied in how he dressed, he walks out of the bathroom.

Only to stop at seeing the massive meal set out on the table.

"SUPRISE!" Aryll, Skull Kid, and Vixi shouted.

Skull Kid rushes up to the stunned Link and grabs his hand. "C'mon! The food can't stay warm any longer!"

Aryll takes her place at the table, "I wanted to give you a welcome home present, so I made this." She clasps her hands together, happy in her hard work. "What do you think?"

Link..was...surprised and...speechless. Though the man can't talk, you see on his face that he didn't expect the home coming present and was very grateful.

Skull Kid sits at the table with Vixi at his side, both fork and knife in hand. "Let's dig in!" The mischief maker declares and grabs the first thing closest to him with his fork.

Vixi flies over to the flowers and rests on the plant, eating from the nectar.

Aryll grabs the ladle to the stew and pours the food in her bowl.

Link had one of everything on his plate stacked to its highest without falling onto the table. He takes the broth noodles and mixes every vegetable and meat he could find into the soup. While at the same time, eats the double layered sandwich he just made and pours milk into his cup.

Aryll could only laugh at her brother's attempt to put every piece of food down his throat. "Big brother, you should slow down before you choke!"

Link holds up one finger as he gulps down the milk in three swallows. Once done, he pours himself lemonade and downs that one too. He puts the cup down and gives his sister a look, a milk and lemonade mustache on his face.

Skull Kid laughs, pointing at Link. "You have something on your face."

Aryll giggles knowing what her brother was doing. "You look just like Uncle."

Link emphasizes by curling his 'mustache' between his finger and thumb, his face coming into a flirtatious smirk. This caused everyone to laugh louder, Skull Kid falling out of his chair with fork in hand.

The evening went on, with food filling everyone's belly, laughter filling the small hut, and stories passed from one another from missed times.

Night comes around and a few windows were alight. Epona was asleep by the cuccos, her saddle and reigns long ago put away. Vixi and Skull Kid had already left, their place of rest being in the Forbidden Forest. The bathroom was cleaned and aired out, the room no longer moist. Aryll was placing the last of the dishes on the cleaning rack and wiping her hands dry. Link had grabbed his belongings from the bathroom and was making his way upstairs.

Once upstairs, Link walks into the second floor and greeted by four doors aligned in a small circular hall. Two doors had built up on dust as the other two were obviously still in use. Those two used rooms belonging to his sister and the guest room, usually occupied by Skull Kid when the Spirit didn't fell like returning to his forest. He looks to his bedroom and grabs the handle, balancing his all of his belongings in the other arm.

The door opens to dust and darkness, puffs of clouds forcing the young man to cough.

With a single look at the room, Link groans and turns around. He opens the guest room and sets his belongings on the wardrobe, sword closest to him. He plops down on the comforter, not bothering in getting underneath the blankets, and sleeps moments after finding a good position to rest in.

Today was a good day.

 

_The dream was very familiar...but something was very different about this._

_A golden wolf with blue eyes roams the valley with a grey cat cub by its side and ends at a shrine, both tired from their journey. A screeching roar echoes over the hills and the wolf spots a golden boar with red eyes not far from them. A golden owl with blue eyes lands on a tree not far from the wolf, screeching in the boar's direction. The boar takes this as a challenge and runs in to fight the wolf. The golden wolf runs to meet the boar and begins fighting in the valley of flowers._

_Again they were evenly matched, both covered in scars as blood leaked from their wounds. The boar charges at the wolf for the kill, but the wolf saw this move and leaps to tear through the boar's throat and watches it bleed out among the flowers. The boar lies dead next to the cat cub as the golden fur turns grey, its eyes becoming black. The cub moves to touch the boar and a golden aura envelopes the kitten. As the golden rays die down, what stood in the cub's place was a demonic silver dragon with red eyes. The dragon turns to the wolf and lights the valley on fire with its breath._

_The wolf looks up to the cub turned dragon in anger and steps back from the towering beast._

_The winds begin to pick up, whipping the fire and burned petals around the four animals until beings stood in their place. As the fire lowers down, a familiar female stands in the dragon's place facing the other two beings with an evil look in her red eyes. Ganondorf lies dead, alone in the burning flowers and covered in scars. Zelda stood behind the hero in horror. Her eyes glued upon the female that stood before them in a dark glee._

_The female with long red hair!_

_Zelda opens her mouth to speak the female's name, and feels the fire burning her flesh._

"ANALA!" Zelda sits up in her bed in cold sweat, her heart beating so fast she could feel her body shake from the vibrations. "Oh Goddesses -no!" She covers her mouth with both hands, her shoulders shake as eyes glisten with tears. The mixture of multiple emotions sends her mind into a frenzy, making her think irrationally. "IMPA!"

Impa flashes at Zelda's side. "What's the emergency?" Zelda jumps from the bed and grabs her adviser. Impa can feel her shaking all over as though the queen had a brush with death. "Queen Zel-

"She's going to kill us all!"

"What? I don't-

Zelda grips Impa's shirt tightly, her fingers digging like claws in the fabric. The queen was crying, her eyes wide and expression beyond frightened. "The one from my dreams! Anala! Sh-She is destined to destroy everything! She's going to kill us all! KILL US ALL!" Zelda starts to shake her adviser, the action forces Impa to flinch. "All of Hyrule -THE ENTIRE WORLD BURNED TO ASH AND GLASS! THE OCEANS DRY TO SALT AND THE SKY RAINING FIRE! THERE WILL BE NO STOPPING HER! **THERE WILL BE NO STOPPING HER!** "

Impa shushes the queen, quickly using her hand to cover Zelda's mouth. "My queen you will attract unwanted attention."

Zelda slaps Impa's hand away. "You don't understand! We are doomed! Oh Gods -WE ARE DOOMED!"

Impa narrows her eyes, "I apologize ahead for this my queen." With trained ease and efficient speed, Impa jabs two of her fingers on a pressure point in Zelda's neck.

Zelda freezes, then her eyes roll up and closes. She falls over only to be caught by her adviser, her body completely limp in Impa's arms. Impa lifts Zelda's body in bridal style and places her body back in bed. Impa grabs the blanket and pulls it over the queen's body, and then readjusts her head onto her pillow.

Foot steps and clanking metal can be heard rushing down the hall. The door bashes open, the royal guard armed to the teeth with spears and swords. "WHAT'S GOING ON?" One of the guards shouted.

Impa calmly walks over to the men and glares at the one who shouted. "The queen just had a nightmare. It will do you best not to disturb her rest."

The men quickly back away from the door, not foolish and knowing well enough not to mess with the Sheikah. "R-Right!" He flinches again at the glare Impa sent to him. The guard fixes his tone whispering, "Right we will be on our way then." The guards solute and walk away, not wanting to deal with the angered stealth warrior.

Once the men were out of sight, Impa closes the door and looks back at her queen. When quiet, the scenery was beautiful enough to be placed in a story book. The rays of moonlight shine through mosaic windows, casting light upon the bedroom in different variants of blue. Zelda's face was calm in a blissful sleep, her skin seem to glow like smooth marble and glass. The night sky a dark blue with a full moon obscuring the stars.

Impa will have to stand guard to ensure the queen doesn't repeat the same hysterics that has happened moments ago. Her mind puzzled and trouble as the night went on. "Anala...who are you?"

 

Link wakes up, hearing a sound he wasn't familiar with.

He sits up from his bed, wide awake and alert in his surroundings. He throws his legs over the side of the bed and goes over to the window. He opens the window, hearing the chirping of birds and buzzing of insects. The fresh air blows gently, his hair swaying with the wind. He takes a deep breath and the scent of flora fills his senses.

Home.

There's that sound again.

"Link!" It's Vixi. "Link-help!" She flies up to his window, her wings chiming in distress.

Link looks at Vixi with a deep worried expression.

"It's Aryll! She's under attack!"

Link didn't hesitate. He grabs his sword, shield, and belt carrying his pouches. He rushes down the stairs, strapping on his belt and harness as he did so. Once at the bottom of the stairs, Link was geared and ready for a fight. The front door bursts open as he runs out of the cabin. He hops on Epona, not bothering with saddle or reins and kicks her into gear.

"Follow me!" Vixi leads the way, leaving a trail of glowing dust in her hurry. As Vixi leads the way, both Link and Epona gallops through the forest's underbrush.

Aryll was running as fast as she could, getting away from the pack of wolves chasing her.

Skull Kid was running above her in the trees, "Turn left!" The spirit shouts.

Aryll did as Skull Kid instructed and jumps over a log. One of the wolves snaps at her only to get a mouth full of bark and moss. She didn't dare look back, knowing what was already at her heals would kill her in seconds if she wasn't careful.

"There's a cliff! Slide down the hill!" Skull Kid instructed again.

Aryll slides down the cliff, and then breaks off into a run as she reaches the bottom. The wolves stops at the cliff and runs around, taking the long way to reach down hill.

Aryll still kept running, her lungs burning and legs beginning to tire out. She jumps over another log. Her dress gets snagged by one of its branches. She falls face first, hitting her head on a small rock. A deep gash is on her forehead, the blood running down her face and over her nose. She quickly gathers her bearings and starts to pull at the caught fabric. But it was too late, the wolves had reached hear and surround her on all sides. They were growling, drool coming out of their muzzles with the thought a meal in their bellies.

Skull Kid jumps from the branches and stands next to Aryll, trying to stand between the wolves and their prey. "Don't worry, Link will be here soon." He tries to reassure her.

A wolf had gotten close enough and started tearing at Aryll's dress. Aryll kicks the wolf and grabs the nearest rock, bashing it against the beast's head. The wolf lets go, whimpering in pain. Another wolf goes for her dress again, this time pulling her to the ground. Skull Kid tries to get it to let go but was grabbed by his shirt by another wolf. Once the two were separated the previous wolf bites at Aryll's sleeve, shaking its head.

"Big Brother!" Aryll cries out in desperation.

A loud hissing snarl was heard and blood covers Aryll's face. She looks up seeing her rescuer eating the wolf whole. The beast licks its snout from the blood, piercing yellow eyes gazes into Aryll's soul. She shakes, fearing this beast more than the wolves surrounding them.

The beast looks toward another wolf, the one biting Kid, and eats that one as well. The wolves, noticing they were down by two members of their pack, turns their attention to the large beast. The beast sees their attention were turned onto it and faces them with full intimidation. It huffs up its chest, brown and green feathers puffing out. It opens its large feathered wings with a snarl. At seeing the size of the beast, the wolves back down a little, afraid of the strength the creature carries.

The beast lets out a powerful roar.

Aryll and Skull Kid cover there ears from the sheer willpower of the roar, the vibrations coming from the roar threatens to burst their ears. The wolves couldn't take the sound, unable to cover their ears, roll onto the ground in a panic. They were whining and whimpering, trying to regain control over their hearing. It wasn't until the beast stopped roaring that the wolves were able to run away. The battle and hunt lost.

Aryll and Skull Kid, slowly remove their hands form their ears and look up to the beast. The beast looks down upon them, not impressed.

Skull Kid walks up to Aryll and holds onto her hand. "What is it?"

"I-I..." She struggles to speak, the adrenaline slowly leaving her system. "I don't know."

"Arial!" Vixi voice rings out to their attention. Epona comes up between the beast and Aryll, Link on her back with his sword drawn. "Watch out Link! It's a dragon!" Vixi shouts at the top of her lungs, clearly surprised by the creature's appearance.

"Big Brother wait-!"

The young man wasn't listening as he hops off Epona's back, his shield facing the beast.

The dragon saw the aggressive behavior and roars again. Link ignores the piercing roar and strikes out with his sword. The blade meeting its mark on the beast's chest, cutting one of the leather straps in the process.

"Ven!" Aryll can see a female with long red hair running with her swords drawn.

Just before Link lands another strike on the dragon, the female slides underneath the hero and trips him on his back. She swiftly get back to her feet and faces the Hylian. With two quick movements with one of her swords and a single kick, she disarms Link of the Master Sword and tosses it far away. She brings her other sword down to chop off the man's head. Link, with his fast reflexes, blocks the blade with his Hyrulian shield.

Aryll shouts, "Big brother -Link, stop it!"

"Anala don't!" A Zora in the background calls out.

Both Link and Anala stop and look to their companion counterparts.


	4. New Friends and Acquaintances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anala and Link fight it out.  
> Anala and Aryll becomes friends.  
> Dragons help make a new trail.  
> Tuuir makes fun of Ganondorf's virginity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important Reminder:  
> I found this quite adorable and confusing when I looked into this. Here is a reminder [or bit of a heads up] for those who may be confused by what I put down in this chapter. Your fault if you didn't read this warning.
> 
> Rope(s)* =what snakes are called in the Zelda Universe  
> Keese(s)*="keys"; what bats are called in the Zelda Universe

* * *

* * *

 

 

**_Acquaintance. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to._ **

_-Ambrose Bierce_

 

* * *

* * *

 

Anala and Miro walks down alongside the riverbank. They had retraced back to where the river had split and followed the waters downstream. The journey had taken their entire morning, going into the mid-afternoon. During their journey, at first, remained in silence. The Zora leading the way had kept looking back at the Gerudo, only to face forward again. He then starts to make noise, a bit of humming here and there. Finally, he starts to make conversation...

"I see you have two swords."

Anala rolls her eyes.

Miro tries again, "You must be really skilled fighter."

Anala remains silent, a smirk evident enough on her face.

"If you don't know what a Zora is, then you must not get around a lot." Miro was quite a chatter mouth, "My kind is just about everywhere in the entire world! So if you didn't know what I am, then you must be from either the mountain ranges, or desert valleys. And seeing you're dress like that, you are definitely not from the mountain ranges. So you must come form the desert valleys, but which one I wonder?" Miro holds his chin, his eyes narrowing in in nothing in particular yet it was quite clear he was in deep thought.

Anala wasn't comfortable about how crazy perceptive the Zora was. "How about we change the topic?"

"I apologize, I don't mean to be intrusive." The Zora slows down and walks next to woman, rather in front of her. He looks sideways to the female, a smile playing on his face. "So...you never told me your name."

Anala groans, knowing she can longer avoid telling the Zora her name. "I'll tell you if you stop hammering me with questions, and at least _try_ to focus on finding Ven."

"Ven?"

" _My mount_."

"Oh-okay then." He smiles, which only cause Anala to groan more. "I promise not to hammer you with questions."

"My name is Anala."

"Anala? No family name?"

"Didn't you just promise not to bother me with questions?"

"No, I said I won't _hammer_ you with questions." The Zora's smile grows, you can see his pearly white teeth and sharp fangs shine in sunlight. "Since there's no hammer involved, I can still ask questions as I see fit."

Anala looks at the Zora, she was no longer annoyed but confused and amused. "Huh...?" Anala couldn't help but laugh under her breath, shaking her head. "I should've seen that one coming. Damn loop holes." An unmistakable smile plays on her face, the corners threatening to lift up more into a full on grin. She was warming up to the Zora.

"Your fault for not being specific enough." Miro starts to slow down, "We're...here..?" They stopped as the Zora points to the spot, a bit confused. There was no dragon, just a enormous wet spot trailing from the river, only four feet from the riverbank. "Your mount was here not long ago." He looks around and up into the sky, not sure himself in how to search for a dragon.

Anala ignores him and walks over to the spot Miro pointed at. She squats down and places her hand on the soil, feeling the earth wet and sunken deeper than the rest of the earth around it. There was even a little bit of heat coming off the area. From where water is naturally cold, Anala knew Ven was here. She looks around, her trained eyes spots something further in the forest. It was a destroyed bristle bush, the plant's roots exposed and recently torn. She gets from her squatting position and walks.

Miro watches Anala moving slowly, "Something wrong?"

Anala bends down to pick something up. She turns around, showing the Zora a giant green-brown feather. It was no longer than Anala's arm but thicker than her wrist. "He was definitely here." She sticks the large feather in her pony tail, tucking it underneath her hair band. "He didn't go that far -probably went on a hunt."

Miro's shoulders tenses as he pales, "Your mount doesn't eat people, does it?"

Anala gives him a quizzing glance. "No, he's a fire drake." She states it as though it was the most obvious, then remembers that Miro wasn't Gerudo. She huffs a light breath, having the need of explaining to the Zora. "A fire drake's diet consist only of creatures that are thick and heavy in muscle, and about mouth size. Humans don't even come close. My mount, as you call him, prefers smaller animals. Unless...he was starving."

"Starving?"

"Good thing we ate before we left." Anala looks around the area, her eyes sticking only to the ground. She pushes another bush over and saw familiar large foot prints. The prints would have been mistaken for some large bird -or Lizalfos- if it weren't for the forth digit going off to the side as a thumb, and the claw markings more thick and pressed into the earth. "C'mon-!" She rushes into the forest, jogging in one direction.

"Hold on-! What happens when a dragon starves?" Miro runs to catch up, fear was a still bit evident on his face. 

Anala was following the large dragon foot prints, seeing the tracks getting lighter the higher they went uphill. The earth getting thicker and hardening from the lack of moisture, the color a bit darker when comparing to the earlier wet shoreline of the river. It was soil like -the kind you use for farming- and chalky, with small plants and dead leaves obscuring the majority of the ground. The farther she follows the trail, the higher it seems they were going, with thin and tall trees reaching higher than the ones closer to the river.

A stench hits her nose and Anala starts to jog uphill, careful of the foliage and where her feet went as she follows the scent. She stops to see an alcove cave, there were dead bodies with most of the carcasses resembling animals. No doubt they were beasts belonging to the forest. Their species weren't very identifiable as they were stacked on one another, bloody bones in disarray and skulls no where in sight. The owner of the bones was not that far off as it was devouring its recent hunt, a deer. A large mound of grey fur hunching over the carcass, point ears and thick bushy tail moving to its motions when it ate.

"Wait-wait...I need to ca-catch my breath..." Miro tries to regain his breath, bending down and leaning on his knees in harsh pants. He looks at where Anala was looking, "What are you-" He shouts. "WOLFO!"

The wolfo's ears perks in their direction and stops eating. It turns around, its glowing yellow eyes glares at them. There was blood staining its grey fur around the muzzle and chest, still wet from eating the deer. It slowly gets on its hind feet, able to tower over Anala and impose on the intruders. Its lips curls back more, bloody teeth separating showing off the red sticky drool and blood soaked tongue. It barks once, blood splattering from its mouth.

Without a word Anala walks up to the beast. 

Miro stays as far away from the beast and sticks out his hand, wanting to stop the woman. "Be careful! One hit and it could-

Once within range the wolfo slashes at Anala, but she just grabs the appendage unfazed by its strength and punches the beast in the chest. She can feel the chest cavity giving into her strength, the breaking of bones were completely audible to her ears. She releases the beast, watching it moan and whine as it curled up into a ball. Anala scolds the beast, "Don't go snarling at people you don't know! Be lucky I went easy on you."

The wolfo just whines, seeming to understand what the female had said to it.

Anala walks over to the large carcass pile and examines the bones. She walks around the pile and picks up a skull with her hands. There still some traces of blood, but notice one side was bigger than the other. No- it was, "Damn." She tosses the skull down, her face frowning of what she found.

Miro saw the look on her face and frowns a bit himself. "What's the matter?"

Anala walks back toward the wolfo and places her hand on its chest. "There's something bigger than Ven in this forest. I need to find him fast before that -whatever it is- gets to him." Her hand start to glow with magic, the wolfo's body alights with green. "He must have known it was after him and started to move to find a safe location." She backs away form the wolfo as the beast got to its feet. "Get lost."

The beast runs as fast as its four legs can carry it.

Miro was confused, "You're saying there's something bigger than your dragon, and it's after it? Why?"

Anala seem a bit shaken, "I don't know, but we need to hurry."

There was a roar far into the distance.

"I recognize that sound!" Anala starts to run, pushing her long legs to their limit. "VEN!"

Miro runs after her, "Slow-down! Wait! I'm not that fast on land!"

Anala continues to run through the forest, jumping over nature and its obstacles, swinging from lower tree branches to cross over trenches and ditches. Her companion Miro wasn't fairing as easily as she was, using his water magic to catch up as much as possible but still has a hard time running when needed. Especially when they were just going up hill.

"Hey, can you slow down?" He shouts, having a hard time breathing.

Anala stops, moving her head from side to side, trying to hear with her small point ears. "I hear hooves. A horse." She follows the sound, her intuition telling her to follow. "C'mon-! We're getting close!" She runs again, this time a bit slower.

Miro slows to a stop, leaning against a tree. "Ho-Hold up..." He just pants, still trying to catch his breath. Again he follows after Anala, his body exhausted.

There in the distance, Anala can see large green-brown wings! She smiles, never thinking she would be so happy as to just see those beautiful things. 

Another roar was heard, but louder with a higher pitch. Anala knew what that sound meant, growing up around dragons, that signal was second instinct to her. It was a cry of warning, of danger within the area, meant to only be used against humans and the like when they try to attack a dragon. If someone was attacking her best friend, they will pay. She takes out her scimitars, large curved swords at her sides as she charges into the fray.

There she can see who was attacking her friend, "Ven!"

The dragon looks over to his rider, a bit of glee in those dragon eyes told her he was happy to see her. But he was distracted, he didn't see the young man going for the killing blow. Anala rushes with new energy and the world around her had disappeared. She slides underneath the man and performs a back sweep windmill kick, tripping the man on his back, then swiftly get back to her feet. Looking at the young man, Anala realize he was still armed and went for the sword. She twists the sword with her right scimitar and uses the edge to dig into the hilt. With a quick lift and a flick of her wrist, the the man's sword was in the air, giving Anala enough time to kick it away. Once disarmed and the fight in her favor, it was time to end the fight. She brings her left scimitar down to chop off the man's head. The young man was fast and quick with response as he blocks her scimitar with an -in her opinion- overly decorated shield.

Anala can hear another female shouting, "Big brother -Link, stop it!"

Miro quickly calls out to her from a far distance, "Anala don't!"

Both Link and Anala stop and look to their companion counterparts.

Link looks back at the red hair female who attacked him and kicks her knee in. Anala, caught off guard, falls to her right knee and groans in pain. He then uses his shield to shove the sword off, careful of the sharp edge of the curved blade. Rolling away, he swiftly gets to his feet and into his defensive stance, slightly crouching in position. His shield held in front of him, keeping a well enough distance between him and his attacker. She gets her footing back, ignoring the tight pain in her leg, and strikes at the Hylian in consecutive hits. One strike after another, twirling in dance of blades, she forces the young man to only block and pace his distance.

Link watches every swing his attacker makes, and spotted an opening. He ducks under a swinging blade, the razor edge cutting away a few strands of hair, and runs for his sword. The female chases him, close on his heels. He dives for his sword, swiftly twisting his body to roll on his back, then getting back on his feet in one smooth movement. He swings his sword up just in time to block the female's oncoming one. She goes for another swing, aiming for his mid-section. He blocks the second oncoming blade, the force of the impact bounces the sword off the shield. The female uses the ricochet to her advantage and changes the grip on her sword, twirling it backwards as she spun. Link goes for a double horizontal slash at Anala, only to miss as she cartwheels backwards to earn herself some distance.

Link readies for another attack, changing his stance from defensive to offensive. His shield at his side as the Master Sword is held upright in front of him. Anala changes her stance, placing both of her blades in front of her and adds a bit of pep to her steps. They both meet each other's eyes, blue eyes meeting one another and recognizing the fire blazing within their opponent's being. Both were controlling their breathing, their muscles tense, their minds trying to decipher their opponent's next move, all in understanding the other wouldn't back down so easily.

Anala horizontally swings with both of her swords together from the right, forcing the Hylian to block with both his sword and shield. Once he blocked, Anala then leaps in the air spinning her body in the opposite direction to kick Link in the face. Her right heel connects to his cheek, the force jerks the young man's head to turn as he goes tumbling back. He quickly turns back around trying to set his sights on the female, blood spilling from his mouth as he tries to get his spinning world under control and regain his balance. Seeing him dazed, Anala readies for the finisher, leaning back in her stance as her swords comes closer to her body. The stance resembling much of a rope*, coiling her body ready to strike.

"That is enough!" The Zora jumps in front of Anala, water swirls up around his arm. A rapier forms in his hands from water and points it at her. "There is no need for fighting!"

Anala doesn't leave her stance. "He attacked Ven!"

"Yes he did, but that doesn't warrant more violence!" He points his rapier down, hoping to resolve the issue peacefully. "It's just a misunderstanding. This young lady," he indicates to Aryll, "was in danger and he must've thought your mount was a threat."

Anala leaves her stance, her eyes moving to Ven. "<Are you alright?>"

Ven nods, "<I'm fine. Not even a flesh wound.>" He snorts, "<But he is right. The girl was attacked by wolves. They left before he came.>"

Anala sighs, the fire in her eyes dies. She sheathes her scimitars, looking at the Hylian girl tending to the young Hylian man. Anala groans, her hands on her hips as she knew what she had done was a mistake. A mere misunderstanding forming into a fraction of guilt. If there was anything her father ever taught, or at least beat it into her from training, was admitting to her mistakes and finding ways to rectify it. She walks over to the two Hylians, fists at her sides, a blush slowly forming on her face.

Link sees the red haired female walking to their direction. He stands between his sister and the unknown female, his shield up and sword in hand pointed downward. His eyes still burning with the heat of battle. The wound in his mouth had stopped bleeding but the evidence was still there, running from his lips down to his chin. He can feel Aryll gripping his right sleeve, peering over his side.

Anala stops before the young man, a blush on her face in full force. She bows at the waist with hands at her sides. "I apologize for my mistake." She stands back up a bit more relaxed, "I didn't know you were attacking out of self defense."

Link was stunned, not expecting this action. He sheathes the Master Sword and puts the Hyrulian shield away. He bows in the same manner as the female demonstrated, a bit hesitant in the action. He stands back up, the fire in his eyes slowly dying out.

"Apology not accepted!" Vixi flies around, her anger was portrayed with her chiming wings. "What you did was-

Link flicks the tiny fairy, not too hard but enough to catch her attention. His glare spoke his desire.

Vixi grumbles, "We're...sorry too."

Link nods with acceptance and looks back at the female.

Anala looks between the fairy and the Hylian, finding the two a bit comical. A smile grows on her face, "I never seen a fairy before. Are you Kokiri?"

Link shakes his head, a bit embarrassed. He rubs the back of his head with a smile on is face.

Aryll walks up, "Everyone mistakes my brother for being one, but he's just an ordinary person. Vixi here is my brother's companion, mostly because she can speak for him when I'm not around." She bows, lifting her dress at the sides, "Hi, my name is Aryll and this here is my big brother. Link."

"Link? Like the old legends?" Anala puts her hands on her waist, looking questionably at the young man.

"Legends?" Aryll question.

Link quickly puts up his hands and shakes his head. He clearly didn't want to touch the subject.

Anala caught the action and understood. She changes the conversation, "Where's your other friend?" She looks around, her eyes checking the shadows of the trees.

"Other friend?" Miro questions, folding his arms over his chest. "I didn't see anyone else."

Anala looks at the Zora questionably, "You didn't see a spirit?"

"No," He stated obviously.

"You can see him?" Aryll asked. "Not everyone can see Skull Kid."

Anala looks at Aryll, smiling. "That's because he's known as a wandering spirit. Wandering spirits can only be seen by those who likes to wander or people who have been touched by shadow magic. Seeing you were out here on your own tells me you like to wander."

Aryll looks away guilty, a blush plays on her cheeks. "I got bored waiting around the house."

Anala laughs, "Don't worry, I'm not judging." She points to herself, "I'm much of a wanderer of my own."

"Really?" Aryll looks the female up and down, her eyes landing on the female's swords far longer than anything else on her person.

"Yes," She points to the dragon. "That's why I brought my friend here. So I can travel the world."

"<Not to mention to get away from your father.>" Ven chirps a laugh, watching his companion slightly flinch.

"That's so cool!" Aryll's eyes began to beam with excitement. She looks at the dragon. "Is he friendly?"

"Friendlier than you think." Anala holds out her hand, "Wanna try and touch him?"

Aryll takes Anala's hand and looks at the dragon. "Okay."

They both move closer to Ven, the dragon just stares at the two females getting closer to him.

Link crosses his arms, his head tilted to the side. He watches his sister's interaction with the stranger and her dragon. The Zora walks over to stand next to him, both men watching the females carry on their conversation. Vixi lands on Link's shoulder, you can still hear her grumbling in anger. Skull Kid hides in the shadows above, looking down from the higher branches as he saw his friend petting the large beast.

Miro was the first to break the silence. "The queen has been planning a banquet. She wants you at the castle within two weeks."

Link shifts his weight to his left, his eyes moves down to the earth. He shakes his head and grunts, making his displeasure noticeable. He didn't want to go, he had done enough. He just wants to relax here at home, with his sister.

Vixi speaks, "Why do we need to go?"

Miro doesn't face the fairy but answers, "For face mostly. She also wants to pay her respects for those that gave their lives during the battle." He turns to Link, his arms falls down to his sides. "You don't have to come, but it's recommended. Father can have a suit fitted for you if you wish. Just come a few days before the banquet and we can travel to the castle together."

Link doesn't meet the Zora's eyes. He looks up watching the smile playing in his sister's face. He then looks to the female with red hair, a question coming to mind. He points to the red haired female, his eyebrow lifting in question.

"Her?" Miro questions, "What about her?"

Link then points to him with a smirk on his face.

Miro blushes, his red blood and blue skin colors clash into a nice purple. "I-I don't know what you're talking about. I just met her today."

Link elbows the Zora, a smile playing widely on his face. He was happy his friend found someone to love, or at least try his chance at love. Miro just huffs, not playing into Link's antics.

"Big brother!" Aryll rushes over, "The dragon needs a new strap for his saddle." Link had a confused look on his face, making Aryll a bit upset. "You broke it by cutting it with your sword. Now the lady can't go anywhere without flying." She takes a few steps forward and sizes up her brother, her blue eyes piercing into his. "How is she suppose to get home if she can't fly?" 

Link looks from his sister to the red haired female. She was looking at a leather strap, her lips turned to the side in thought as she assesses the damage. The strap lead directly to the saddle, connecting across the dragon's chest like a harness. With Link's experiences with Epona's saddle, he can tell that without the strap the saddle would only fall to the right side. If she were to fly then the female would most certainly fall to her death.

He doesn't like to think about having her death on his conscience. Link nods to his sister, a small smile on his face.

Vixi flies around the two siblings. "We can get old man Arron to help us!"

Aryll smiles. "That's a great idea." She quickly turns around, rushing up to the female's side. "I'm going to tell her our plan."

Link puts his thumb and finger in his mouth and whistles a melody. The tune coming off as smooth and charming. Epona neighs in response and rushes over to her master. She stops besides Link, flicking her reins up to signify that she was ready. Link hops on Epona with ease, throwing his leg over the saddle. He grips the reins and looks up to the females, waiting and watching. 

Miro walks around Epona, "I'm going ahead and tell Arron you're coming." He heads downhill, going for the closest riverbank.

Link grunts in acknowledgement and watches the girls.  

The female with red hair takes off the broken saddle, undoing the buckles and straps. She wraps the saddle together with some of its straps and ties the last few on her body across her chest. The saddle fits her like a backpack, the seat small enough not to weigh her down as she walks. She gets closer to her dragon, the creature lowers down and extends its left foreleg out. The female then climbs onto her dragon, using the beast's leg to gain an extra leverage. Once seated firmly on her mount, legs going over the edge of the beast wings, she gives Aryll her hand. Aryll grabs the female's extended hand and climbs on the dragon as well, sitting sideways and resting between the female's legs.

Link frowns.

Aryll waves to her brother from the back of the large beast. This puts Link on edge, nervous for her safety and fear of seeing her get hurt. He steals his emotions, tightening his lips in a thin line. He didn't want to let Aryll know how he felt, so he remain stoic not wanting to ruin her happiness.

Aryll saw the look on her brother's face. Her hand slowly lowers, not sure how to approach an emotionless person that was her brother. Her smile was a bit forced this time around, "Why don't you lead big brother?"

Link nods and taps his heels against Epona. His war horse moves, both mare and hero going uphill. The dragon follows the horse, careful to not toss his riders as he move. Aryll falls back into the red haired woman, not knowing where to grip while on the back of a dragon. She laughs as she got a better sense of how to ride the beast.

Aryll takes her time to explore the dragon, her fingers weaving through the feathers and hide. From the surface, the feathers were a bit warm and thick. Yet underneath the mass there were layers of scales, each having feathers rooted underneath every plating. The deeper her fingers reached into the feathers, the warmer the temperature gets. Soon her hands stops in the middle of the dragon's back, a rhythmic beating reaching her fingertips.

"His heart is really strong."

"Hearts," Anala holds up two fingers, "Dragons have two hearts and two sets of lungs."

"Why so many?" Aryll looks up to the female.

"To accommodate their size." She smiles at Aryll, "The bigger they grow the more organs they need. All dragons start with a normal set of each. As they grow older they grow more hearts and lungs. The extra heart is to help them breath the higher they get so they wouldn't get tired so easily. The extra lungs is to help them breath fire without burning through all their oxygen."

"You know a lot about dragons."

"I have to if I want to ride one." Anala leans over and scratches underneath Ven's jawline. The dragon lets out a purr like snarl. "It's almost the same as horse-riding. You don't want to hop on a horse and not know anything about it."

"I guess your right about that." Aryll leans forward and hugs the dragon, rubbing her nose in the feathers. "He's so big."

"That's what she said." Anala jokes. She can hear Ven chuckle in his own dragon way.

Link quickly turns around and glares at the red haired female. His facial expression gave the female implication that he was extremely not impressed and would like her not to make another joke like that again.

Aryll looks up at the female puzzled. "Huh, what do you mean?"

Anala understood now. Aryll was still just a child, and Link being the older brother, doesn't want to expose his younger sibling to something so... _adult_. Anala puts on a joking smile, her nervousness barely caught on the surface. She waves her hand back and forth trying to dismiss the subject, "Uh, it's nothing. Just a slip of the tongue." Aryll had left it at that and went back to hugging the dragon.

Link glares a bit longer at the female before returning to face the front. The rest of the journey went on in silence.

As they came over the last edged, Anala started to see a giant tree with two parts of the cabin connected to it. The small front yard completed with a tiny porch had Anala staring with her mouth wide open. "That's a big tree."

"<No kidding.>" Ven agreed, his dragon eyes just stares at the large wooden trunk.

Link pulls on Epona's mane and stops in the middle of the yard. Ven being bigger than the war horse, stood just outside of the small yard, close to the stone fence entryway. Anala jumps off of Ven and turns around to help Aryll climb down, her strong arms able to hold the young girl by her waist and ease her down.

"Thank you," Aryll said after the female released her. "I'll go get dressed in better clothing. Do you need anything?" Aryll was always the perfect host, tending to every visitor's need before her own.

Anala looks down at her shawl, her mother's memento was a bit dirty with grime and sweat. "Yeah I can use a new top. Also do you have anything I can wash this with?"

Aryll looks at the shawl that played as the female's shirt. "Yeah, we have just the thing. I think I have something in your size." She makes her way inside the cabin, Anala not far behind.

Link leaps off of Epona and makes his ways to the second floor, not minding the conversation the two females were having on the first floor. He walks inside the guest room, kicking the door after him close. He goes for his belt only to stop and notice this hero's clothing clean and folded. He smiles, knowing Aryll was the one that did it. He puts on his belt, and then takes off his sandals in exchange for his boots. The boots didn't look right with the outfit he had on, but it will serve its purpose once he enters town.

He opens the door and stops to notice across the way the dark skin female was wearing familiar clothing. The cream colored shirt matches the cream colored pants she had on. It was obviously too small on her form as her breast press tightly together, leaving nothing to the imagination and her cleavage shows off the world by the v-neck. The long arm sleeves hugged her arms tightly,seeing every muscle that were her arms. The bottom edges can barely stay around her wide waist, the fabric only folds in itself showing off her belly button.

The shirt was Aryll's, but a hand me down from Link.

Aryll was trying hard not to laugh as Anala tries to stretch the tunic out. "I can't it's too tight." She gives in, pulling the ends up and over her head. 

Link's face turns red at the next thing he saw...

Two round beautiful lumps were freed from confinement as the tight shirt tugged the bra along with it. The darker nipples can almost be seen, but was obscured once more as Aryll was quick to pull the bra back down. "Careful your bra almost came off!"

Anala really didn't care as she ignored the comment and rolls the shirt up. "I guess we have to ask your brother if he has any clothes."

Link gasps and shallows his air thickly.

Anala and Aryll turn their head to see Link's face glowing red. He closes his door, his eyes trained down as he felt his adulthood pressed against his pants. He pressed his lips together, eyes closed with eyebrows furrows, his face still flush as he remembers how much he hates being an adult.

A knock on his door makes him jump.

Link opens the door, to peek out and see Anala still in her half naked glory.

"Not to bother you, but do you have any clothes that may fit me?"

Link nods and points to his old bedroom.

Anala looks were he points and walks to the door. "Thanks."

Link grunts in acknowledgement and quietly shuts the door. The feeling of his manhood still hasn't gone away. He groans to himself as he knew what he needed to do...

Anala opens the dusty door to the overly dramatic dusty room. She coughs, waving her hand in front of her face. "Damn," she walks inside and searches the wardrobes and dressers, all the tops she found were either too small or didn't have enough space around the torso. "Great...nothing fits." She tosses down the last shirt and walks over to Link's door.

She knocks.

It was a while before Link opens his door again, he face a bit paler this time.

"Do you have anything else I may wear?"

Link looks to the side quickly in thought, he looks back at Anala and nods. He holds up one finger, telling her to wait. he closes the door and a bit of rummaging can be heard. Link comes back with a green tunic.

Anala takes the tunic and holds it out before herself to test the size. "Yeah, I think this can work..." She puts on the tunic, not knowing she was giving Link a nice little show of her breast jiggling in her bra. Once she pulls the ends down, she was satisfied. The tunic fits her perfectly. "Thanks." She waves and rushes down the spiral stairs.

Link goes back into his room, once more grumbling to himself.

Aryll was in the bathroom, just finishing cleaning her face from the wolf's blood. Her dress was tattered and destroyed, matching of how much she was feeling at present. She looks into the mirror, a bit shaken by what she saw. Her right sleeve to her dress was completely torn up to her shoulder. The bottom left part of her dress was torn into a split dress, revealing more of her white capri underneath. The blood had stained her leather corset and blue dress, from the neck all the way down to her waist. Some of it was even in her hair.

"You okay?"

Aryll turns to look at Anala standing in the doorway. She nods, a shadow drifts over her eyes as she shrinks into herself. "Yeah, I...I just..." Her eyes was starting to sting, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She felt arms hug her. At first she thought it was her brother by the green tunic, but realize it was the female by a pair of breasts meeting her face.

"It's okay, you're safe now and nothing will harm you." Anala gently speaks into her ear. She rubs Aryll's back in smoothing circles, "Everything is going to be fine." She leans back to lift Aryll's chin, "You're stronger than this and will fight until the end. I believe that in you." Anala rubs her fingers against Aryll's face, "So enough of these tears and start standing on your own two feet."

Aryll blinks and nods. "Your right." She clenches her fists in determination, her heart filling with bravery. "I am stronger than this. I was just a bit shaken is all."

Anala pats her shoulder, "Exactly, now is the time to move on." She turns around to leave, "I'll be outside if you need me."

"Okay." Aryll looks back to the mirror and notice quite a changer in her reflection. "I need to change into better clothes."

Outside Anala takes a seat on the porch, occupying the only seat that was there. She watches Ven mess around with the cuccos, their clucking and chirping fills the atmosphere. Ven was laying on the ground, his head bent down with his snout meeting with some of the small creatures. He was curious in them as they were with him. Starting to understanding the large creature meant no harm, the cuccos start to snuggle against the dragon's legs and torso. Ven welcomes the action, loving the attention from his white feathered fellows. He even go as far as licking them, earning a few friendly pecks. A few start to groom him, their tiny heads reaching areas Ven had always had wanted to touch, but had a hard time getting to them.

Anala laughs at the display.

"What's your name?"

Anala looks up, her eyes meeting a Skull Kid. "Where have you been?"

Skull Kid lands on the porch railings, squatting down to meet the female's eye. "Tell me your name first."

"If I tell you my name, will you tell me yours?"

Skull Kid frowns slightly, "No one can hear my name."

Anala took that as a challenge, crossing her arms and lifting one of her eyebrows. "Try me." She waits for a while and answers, "My name is Anala Dragmire."

Skull Kid narrows his eyes in suspicion, "You're not evil are you?"

"If I was, I wouldn't be nice to Aryll now would I?" She smirks. "You still haven't told me your name."

"I have three, but only one is my true name." Skull Kid answers. Getting comfortable, he starts to sit on the railing and kicks his legs back and forth. "My name is. . . " The name he speaks disappears with the wind.

Anala smiles, "That's a nice name. Correct me if I'm wrong but it's . . . ,right?" The name cannot be heard, only to disappear with the wind never to be echoed.

Skull Kid leaps up with excitement. "You said my name! No one had said my name before!"

Anala's smile still haven't left. "It's a gift my family have. We can hear and see things others cannot."

Skull Kid nods in understanding. "That's pretty neat! So do you like pranks?"

Anala can't help but remember the times she placed traps throughout the entire Gerudo Oasis, her sisters had always rue the day she was born. "You have no idea...There was this one time my aunt had insulted my intelligence, so I proved her wrong by setting her room up with traps..."

Inside, Link walks down the stairs. He was holding Epona's saddle and reins. Aryll, at the same time, comes out of the bathroom fully dressed and clean. She was holding onto dirty and stained clothing. They almost bump into each other, but stop midway to gaze at one another.

Link wasn't much different, just with the addition of his belt with pouches on his hip. Yet with Aryll, she had had changed more than just her attire. Her long hair was now braided to one side and hangs over her left shoulder. Her point ears can now be seen in full view, cute and adorable as Link remembers it. The same blue ribbon tied her hair, but the other was used to keep her bangs in place and was tied around her head. Instead of a dress, she was wearing a frilled flower shirt of the same design as her previous dress and a long sleeve white shirt underneath it. Her white capris were exchanged for a pair of pants much like Link's but without the embroidery. There were small leather boots on her feet instead of sandals.

Link recognize this outfit and knows Aryll would only wear this if she was going to the village. The trip from their home to there would be long and treacherous. He doesn't want to out his sister through anymore danger than necessary. He gives her a scolding look, telling her what was on his mind.

Aryll knew what he was thinking and huffs, "I'm going! I'm not staying here by myself."

Link crosses his arms, and scolds at her more. He was not going to let this go.

Aryll crosses her arms and lifts her chin. "If you're not here, then who is going to protect me when I'm in danger again?"

Link looks to the side, thinking.

"It's not just going to be you. You forget the lady is going too and she has a dragon."

Link sighs, rubbing the side of his face. His sister won this argument and she knew it.

Aryll jumps and hugs her brother, "Thanks big brother!" She lets go quickly and leaves to go up stairs.

Link walks outside, only to be greeted with an unusual sight. The dragon was cuddling with cucoos grooming its fur, the scene being cute and adorable to the hero. The red haired female was to his left, chatting a storm with Skull Kid as they both discussed something about snakes and paint. He doesn't want to know, but something tells him he should be worried of the female being familiar with Skull Kid. Most likely from the recognition that whenever Kid made a friend, there was always a prank soon afterward.

Ignoring the two he makes his way toward Epona. The moment she set her eyes on Link and the equipment he was holding, she became quite excited. Link starts with the reigns, Epona dipping her head for the head piece to go over her ears and opening her mouth for bit to fit in her mouth. Link then gets to work on the saddle, throwing on the padding before resting the saddle on top. Once everything was in place and checked over, Link looks over his shoulder and almost jumps.

Anala was standing behind him staring. Well, more like of what he was doing.

"I thought horse saddles were more complex."

Link looks from her to the saddle. In comparison, yes dragon saddles were more complex. Then again, horses don't fly. Link looks back at female only to see the her on the back of her dragon with the broken saddle on her back. Aryll once more riding with her.

How does she move so fast?

Link shakes his head and hops on Epona. With a brush of his heels and a short tug on the reins, Link leads the way through the forest with the dragon following close behind.

 

Ganondorf was becoming impatient.

He was hoping the army would leave and continue there way through the desert. Instead, the soldiers were building parameters and setting up tents. Night was coming and he wishes to be rid of these men. He doesn't need them sticking around longer than necessary. It was time to put his second plan into action.

Hopefully these humans will get the message that they weren't welcomed here.

 

The trail out of the forest didn't take long, with the season being summer and the rainy seasons came to an end, there were no problems the crossing rivers and creeks. They just gotten into the open fields, the trail becoming more visible and less trees to maneuver through. What he didn't expect though was the female and her dragon taking off into the open field, running through the meadow.

"So cool!" Anala jumps off her dragon and plays in the tall grass.

Link looks to his laugh sister, who was left standing next to Epona, for an explanation.

Aryll chuckles, "They never seen a meadow before."

Link tilts his head in wonder and looks back at the two playing in the meadow. They were laughing, jumping, leaping, rolling, chasing, and touching everything. No doubt they would soon experience having thorns and goat heads, but they seem to be having so much fun. It kind of reminds Link when he first seen the meadow himself. Both he and sister acted the same way, children running through the see of green and disappearing under its beauty. He also remembers a rope biting him when he wasn't looking.

Yeah, Link rather not repeat that experience.

"OW! AH! SON-OVA- _EEK_!"

Speaking of which...

Link can see the dragon pulling Anala up by her scruff as though she was a baby dragon and walks over toward Link. Both he and his sister try to stifle their laughter, as the female came into view. Anala had three dead ropes in her hand, but was covered in thorns and goat heads. She must have saw the reptiles and dove before thinking.

The dragon gently sets his rider on the trails, tears were falling from her face as she tries not to move as much.

She slowly turns to the Hyrulians. "You didn't tell me there was -ow, ow, owie- thorns." Anala drops the dead reptiles and starts to pull the thorns and goat heads out of her skin.

Aryll laughs no longer able to keep it in. She walks over to the female and helps remove the painful obstructions. "I did say to be careful."

Anala grumbles under her breath, knowing Aryll was right.

Link hops off of Epona and helps remove the thorns from Anala's body. With every other prickly plant removed, he starts to notices how the female was bleeding and starts to worry. After removing the thorns from the female's body, Link goes into his satchels and pulls out a red bottle. The potion was alight with healing energy.

"Gross, you keep chuu juice." Anala makes a face, one akin with disgust and rejection.

Link holds out the bottle toward her, a smirking playing on his face.

She takes the bottle and frowns. "Unbelievable..." She uncorks it, "So gross..." She takes a deep breath and swallows the entire bottle. After the last drop, the rips the bottles form her mouth, "UGH! Gross, gross, gross...so gross." She corks the bottle and hands it back to Link. "I think I'm going to puke..."

Link rolls his eyes, thinking the female was being over-dramatic.

Anala runs over to the tall grass and bends over-

*BAAARF!!*

Okay, maybe she wasn't being over-dramatic.

Aryll was the first to check on Anala, "Are you okay?"

Anala shakes her head and throws-up again. She was panting this time, taking in slow deep breathes. "Chuu jelly is the...ugh...squished form of intestines and..." She barfs again. "...grinded mucsles."

Link makes a face, covering his mouth as he thought of the many times on his adventures when he drank potions. He looks over toward the dragon and saw that it's expression was something along the line of acceptance and experience. Like it knew this would happen and thought nothing of it.

"Ahoy there!"

Link and Aryll looks across the meadow and spots two horsemen coming their way. The men were Hyrulian soldiers with there helmets removed and weapons sheathed. Link knew these men.

"Commander Fernadil, nice to see you here!" The first man was Lieutenant Rraz Grekle, a Hylian much like Link with red hair and brown eyes. He used to fight and train alongside Link during their first initiation into the ranks.

"We saw the beast at first carrying you by your tunic and thought you needed the help." The second man was Sergeant Lui Fasz, a human with brown hair and green eyes. He was the blacksmith's nephew and a close friend to the hero. They practically grew up together and shared a brother-like bond that makes even his sister Aryll a bit jealous. The man's words become more suave and flirtatious, "Turns out is wasn't you, but a _lovely_ woman-"

Anala glares over her shoulder, "I'm not of age."

That silenced the Sergeant into stunned silence. "I apologize, I didn't mean-uh..."

Rraz laughs, patting his friend's shoulder. "Don't you feel like an old pervert!" He looks down at the red headed female and smiles. "Forgive my friend, he forgets himself when crossing paths of one of such beauty."

Anala stands up and huffs, "Nice to know." She wipes her mouth with the edge of the green tunic and flinches, knowing she will have to continue wearing the shirt until she finds a new one.

"Commander," Rraz begins, "There has been reports of raiders coming in and out of Hyrule. Right now, Sergeant Fasz and I are escorting a caravan back to Ordon. If you like, you could accompany us and help with our efforts." He eyes Aryll, giving Link a small hint.

Link follows the Lietenant's line of sight and sighs. He doesn't want to risk his sister's safety, so he nods and grunts in acceptance.  
  
"Yeah, I think I'll just go now." Anala hurries back to Ven, feeling uncomfortable by the heavily armored men. "I'll meet you guys there." She gets on her dragon and they both turn to leave.

"Wait-!" Aryll shouts.

Anala pretends not to hear and Ven takes off flying, Anala gripping onto Ven by his feathers.

"Anala!" Aryll tries to chase after them but it was too late as both rider and dragon flies off into the sky.

"What an odd girl." Rraz comments.

Link just worries, wondering why the female took off as she did.

In the sky Anala leans closely to Ven, "<Did you felt that? Those men?>"

Ven grumbles, "<They had shadow magic. The other one smelled of blood.>"

"<It wasn't just that, they both had enchanted armor.>" She looks over her shoulder, worry creeping on her face. "<I hope we didn't leave them to their deaths.>"

"<The elf seem to know what he was doing. He is the hero of legend after all.>" Ven comments, but Anala could tell there was a bit of worry in his tone.

Anala turns back around and looks down at her hand. The hand that held the triforce marking, "<His was glowing...Am I...>"

Ven growls, "<Don't say it!>" He tilts his head a little to meet Anala's eyes. "<Your father said you were never going to become that... _thing_ , even if it meant his life.>" 

There was silence between them, the flaps of Ven's wings and the whistle wind was the only sound between them. "<You promise, that you would never leave my side..?>"

Ven faces foward, "<Never.>"

Anala grips Ven tightly, hugging him as she rubs her face in his feathers. "<Thanks, Ven. I'm going to hold you to that.>"

Ven just scoffs, "<Females... _so clingy_. >"

Anala just laughs.

 

Ganondorf looks over the night sky, admiring the stars and moonless night. The cold air nipping at his flesh as the heat had disappeared with the sun. Taking a deep breath, he looks down.

The raiders had did a number on the trail. He didn't know how they did it, but it was completely gone. He looks over to the dragons, feasting on dead raiders and their horses. They were going to need the energy for this one and a lot of patience.

"My king," Ganondorf turns to look at one of his warriors, "We are all ready to go."

"Hm," He turns to look back at the dragons, "Just in time. On my signal, get ready to dump the sand."

"Yes sir." She runs off.

"Vokun." His dragon looks up, licking her maw. "<It's time.>"

The black dragon snarls at the other dragons and they obeyed. They take off flying, gaining distance from the trail.

Ganondorf takes out his lantern and light it with a quick spell. He holds it out and places it onto the trail, careful not to spill the oil. He then walks off the trail and whistles. Far to the side a horde of dragons come flying in. They all land in a row just before the trail and turn around, their rears facing the trail. With a shake of their backs and flaps of their wings, they dump sand off their backs and onto where the trail was supposed to be. Now there was a trailing mound of sand as far as the eye could see.

Ganondorf whistles again, this time for Vokun. Their group comes swooping in and breathing heavy fire on the sand. In seconds the sand liquidizes from the dragon's breath and cools from the night air, becoming glass.

 

"My Lords!" The young King, Adviser, and Commander all look up from their papers to the soldier. "The dragons they're-they're lighting the sand on fire! You got to come and look at this!"

The young king rushes out of his tent and follows the man with his commander nor far behind him.

The young king watches in awe of the sight. There were dragons, about twenty digging out the sand as seven others in the sky breathed fire. Not far from them was a dark figure in a black cloak, a large man looking at the young king from a distance. The young king stares back, wondering who the mysterious person was. The cloaked figure gives out a whistling signal and all the dragons stop. They take off into the night sky as only one dragon comes down to land in front of the young king, a letter was tied around its neck.

The young king reaches over and takes the letter, looking the dragon in the eye. "Thank you."

The dragon chirps and flies off.

The young king looks back over toward the dark figure, only for the man to have disappeared.

"We seem to be unwelcome." Louis comments.

The young King looks down to the letter in hand and opens it, reading the contents. "It appears to be the opposite. It's an invitation."

"An invitation-? To where-?"

"Someplace called the Spirit Temple." He hands the letter over to David.

The Commander reads the contents:

_To his Grace,_

_I write this letter to you as an invitation, not only as a warning but also a welcome. You see to what my dragons can do and have witnessed the precaution of the actions I take. However, you are invading our lands and now I am to act accordingly. If you do wish to be a drake's meal, then by all means, stay. If you wish for sanctuary and a place for your men, then I recommend the Spirit Temple. You have until next sunset until you and your men are fair game._

_The glass trail is for you to follow and get on your way._

_Yours Truly,_

_A Very Serious Yet Kind Person_

"This man is not to be taken likely." David folds the letter and tucks it into his pouch. "Your orders your grace?"

The young king looks over the dark horizon, slowly turning back to his men. "Let us rest for now, and be on our way at dawn." The king walks past his men, planing on getting rest for the next day.

 

Back in the Gerudo Oasis, Ganondorf was glaring at a certain old sorceress. "You did what now?"

Tuuir sips her tea, thinking nothing of her former pupil's anger. "I sent a letter for his grace, so he knows to leave."

The king of Gerudo rubs his face and groans, "We're not suppose to reveal ourselves. They are not suppose to know we exist." He turns around, his large back facing the sorceress. "Why? Why did you do it?"

"You really think dragons are smart and well organized enough to create a glass trial without an intelligent leader to guide them." Tuuir adds sugar to her cup, "Even with the benefit of the doubt, those men would learn sooner or later there's a master mind behind the attacks and rescues. Oh, and don't get me started on the girls. Some of them even started scheming about sneaking out to _great_ some of the men." Tuuir laughs a bit and she sips her tea, "Talk about a dry spell..."

"Stop, just... _stop_." He turns around a bit of disgust on his face. "I don't need to hear gossip."

"You are more woman than you are man." She peaks over her cup of tea, looking at Ganondorf. 

"I don't sleep with men." He declared.

"You used to...or at least you **did** in your past lives. For I do believe the term is _flamboyant_."

"Flamboyant-yes. Sexually-no." Ganondorf crosses his arms, shaking his head. "Times are different now."

Tuuir smiles, "If you say so..." She sips her tea. "Doesn't change the fact that you did **it**."

Ganondorf stares at Tuuir.

"So...is it true you crushed on the Hero." Tuuir was full on grinning.

Ganondorf walks away leaving.

"You didn't say ' _no'_!"

"I'm not gossiping!"

"Virgin!"

"So-!"

Tuuir fulls out laughs, spilling some of her tea. "He's adorable when he loses."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important Reminder:  
> I found this quite adorable and confusing when I looked into this. Here is a reminder [or bit of a heads up] for those who may be confused by what I put down in this chapter. Your fault if you didn't read this warning.
> 
> Rope(s)* =what snakes are called in the Zelda Universe  
> Keese(s)* ="keys"; what bats are called in the Zelda Universe

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are much appreciated, member or not!


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